GROWING IMIRCE

Historian Kerby A. Miller’s collection of Irish emigrant materials, assembled since the 1970s, constitutes the basis of Imirce. Included in the Miller Collection are emigrant letters gathered by historian Arnold Schrier in the 1950s. The Imirce team is committed to continuing their work, by collecting and transcribing Irish emigrant letters and memoirs for addition to the database.

 Fill out the online form if you would like to donate material to the Imirce digital collection. 

 

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

The collection scope for Imirce covers the following material types:

  • Letters written by Irish emigrants and/ or their descendants
    • Definition: A letter is a written communication, especially one sent by courier or post; correspondence.
  • Memoirs written by Irish emigrants and/ or their descendants
    • Definition: A written account of an individual’s own life story, reflecting their personal observations, experiences and memories of the time(s) they have lived through.

Areas of particular interest are a) materials written in Irish in North America and b) materials produced in any language by emigrants from Irish-speaking districts.

GUIDELINES

If you would like to donate material to the Imirce digital collection, please take note of the following points:

  • The Imirce team is conscious that family correspondence and memoirs may hold sentimental value for members of the public. We welcome donations of original manuscripts and/or digital copies.

  • The Imirce team may offer further support if donors wish to donate a digital copy of the original manuscript. A digital copy may refer to a digital scan of the material or a typed transcript of the full text.

  • The methodology behind Imirce is to make these important materials available to the public and academic researchers online, with the fewest restrictions possible. For this reason, it is important that any donation be made by the rights/ copyright owner of the materials or a close family member. We will discuss the origins of any material and its provenance with potential donors.

  • The University of Galway Library respects your right to privacy and the rights of the authors of any letters and/or memoirs considered for donation. The Imirce team will discuss with donors any references to persons living or deceased or any sensitive content to ensure that the material is treated appropriately according to the University’s Data Protection protocols.

  • Letters or memoirs written within the last 100 years may not be eligible for immediate publication to the Imirce digital collection due to privacy or rights reasons. Letters may also include correspondence by email that discusses matters relating to Irish emigration to North America. In these cases, we urge members of the public to still submit an enquiry form for review and discussion.

 HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

To begin the conversation about the materials you are considering donating, please submit the following details to the University of Galway Library by completing this online form.

  • Date of application
  • Contact name
  • Contact email address and/ or telephone number
  • Material Type (Letter(s) and/ or memoir(s))
  • Material date range (e.g. 1870-1905)
  • Material format (original material or copy of original material)
  • Material Extent (total number of pages)
  • Author(s) of the material
  • A short description of the materials and where they came from

Once the completed form is received, the Imirce team will review and respond to your query as soon as resources are available to do so. Thank you for your interest in contributing to this growing collection.

About University of Galway Heritage Collections

The Library at University of Galway is proud to be the custodian of a rich and growing suite of Heritage Collections, consisting of Archival, Print and Digital Heritage Collections. Areas of focus for our archival collections are literature, theatre, film and the performing arts, as well as historical and political collections, all including significant Irish-language and regional material. Our team ensures that heritage collections are preserved, discoverable and accessible for research, learning and knowledge exchange locally, nationally and internationally. Our Archives and Special Collections Reading Room service is at the heart of service and a principle point of access to our physical collections. Find out more about the different aspects of our service here.