The IGRS has recently uploaded to its website indexed and scanned images of the Society's Newsletter, which has been published since August 1982. It's packed full of helpful genealogical data, titbits, gleanings, jottings and ephemera.
It includes hundreds of birth briefs and notices of members’ interests, abstracts from pre-1922 transcripts of Irish court bills and decrees, biographical details noted from Irish newspapers, gravestone inscriptions, jottings from rare trade and street directories, notes on Irish found in early overseas sources, and much more besides. This content, while of great genealogical interest would not in itself warrant inclusion in the Society’s annual journal, The Irish Genealogist, so the Newsletter quickly became a secondary organ via which to record data for the use of members of the Society.
This new database comprises a names index to the Newsletters published from 1982 to 2016, volumes 1 to 5. Additionally, from 1982 to 2004, volumes 1-3, each entry in the names index contains a hyperlink to scanned images of the corresponding Newsletters. Images for 2005 to 2016 will added later this year.
Until the end of May, volume 1 (1982-1991) along with its corresponding scanned images, can be viewed by anyone, completely free of charge, whether an IGRS member or not. Click here to search this new resource.
The first editor of the Newsletter was Michael Leader until March 1991. He was followed by Roz McCutcheon until her death in March 2023. Since then, the editor has been Marguerite Fletcher. The Newsletter contains many references to family names, all of which have been included in this new family names Index. Different people have been involved in the indexing, though the earlier volumes were indexed by Terrence T. Quirke Jr., while Peter Quirk, the Society's current Membership Secretary, has indexed from Volume 5 onwards with the assistance of other volunteers.
The Newsletter volume and page number reference is returned for all visitors to the website, whether IGRS members or guests. However, logged-on members are provided with a hyperlink allowing them to view a scan of the relevant edition of the Newsletter.
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