The Irish Manuscripts Commission was established in 1928 by the newly founded
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
with the intention of furthering the study of Ireland's manuscript collections and archives.
Its foundation was primarily motivated by the loss of many historical documents when the
Irish Public Record Office was destroyed during the
Battle of Dublin in the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...
,
and by the destruction of most Irish family records by the IRA at the
Burning of the Custom House in 1920.
The Commission catalogues and publishes editions of such documents.
It also publishes the journal ''
Analecta Hibernica'', which provides information on the commission's work and editions of shorter manuscripts.
Since 1930 it has overseen the publication of over 140 titles.
The commission is run by a chairman and a board appointed by the Irish government. The commission's works were published by the Irish Stationery Office (now the Government Supplies Agency) until 1990. Since 1991 it has published its own works.
The Irish Manuscripts Commission is based at 45 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. It shares a building with the
Irish Architectural Archive.
The commission's first chairman on its foundation was
Eoin MacNeill
Eoin MacNeill (; born John McNeill; 15 May 1867 – 15 October 1945) was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist, and politician who served as Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925, Ceann Comhairle of D ...
. Among its first board members was
Richard Irvine Best. The current chair is James McGuire of
University College Dublin.
In 2008, the
Government of Ireland
The Government of Ireland () is the executive (government), executive authority of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet (government), cabinet – is composed of Mini ...
announced its intention to amalgamate the commission, the
National Archives of Ireland and
National Library of Ireland as part of a wide-ranging programme of cut-backs. The announcement proved highly controversial, with
Fintan O'Toole and
Donnchadh Ó Corráin among the most vocal opponents of the measure.
This merger, in the end, did not go ahead.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
1928 establishments in Ireland
*
Learned societies of Ireland