Launch of www.tipperarystudies.ie
On Saturday last, 21 May, Tipperary Studies, the local history library for the county, launched its new website, www.tipperarystudies.ie . The culmination of months of work by both the Library staff and Eclipse website design, this brand new site is a massive development for Tipperary Studies’ online presence. Designed to provide the browser with up-to-date and topical content, the new site is also the showcase for the Tipperary Studies Digitisation Project, which provides visitors with access to primary source material online. Local history enthusiasts will be well aware of the much increased provision of such web-based content in recent times, and www.tipperarystudies.ie now offers a wealth of online sources for Co. Tipperary. The bulk of the collection presently consists of Rate Books for the Poor Law Unions of Cashel, Nenagh and Thurles, along with the Irish Tourist Association Reports (1942-45) for the county’s parishes. These records contain a wealth of information for the local historian or genealogist, and, indeed, any browsers eager to explore the records of their own locality. The Digital Collection is an ever increasing one and we will be adding to it as time goes by with the hope that, in the very near future, www.tipperarystudies will become a “go-to” resource for the study of the county’s history not just in Ireland, but worldwide.
The Digitisation Project was made possible through fundraising carried out by the Tipperary Studies during 2014/15, and the response to the appeal has been startling in its generosity. Warm thanks and immense credit is due to everyone who contributed to the drive to purchase the necessary equipment, as their kind donations were, in effect, an investment in the security and promotion of the study of Tipperary’s past. All of the Library staff are most appreciative of the positive response and are confident that this new site will do justice to their generous donations.
Other new features on the site include an updated “Events” section, and we encourage all local history and heritage groups to contact us at studies@tipperarycoco.ie with details of their upcoming functions, meetings, lectures and publications. We would be delighted to highlight them on the site. Also of interest is our new section entitled “Times Past”, a weekly delve into some of the more unusual, humorous or entertaining snippets from almost 250 years of editions of Tipperary’s newspapers.
www.tipperarystudies.ie promises to have something of interest to all browsers, from near and far, and we are confident that even a quick and cursory visit to the site will give rise to many more. The content is ever changing and we look forward to greatly adding to our online sources in the near future.
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