Towards 2016

This paper reports on the Towards 2016 research project which was conducted as part of the UCD Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive (IVRLA) series of demonstrator research projects. The project, which was undertaken in the context of the upcoming centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, surveys UCD’s archival holdings of 1916-related material in order to provide an understanding of the Rising itself and, in particular, its re-interpretation in subsequent years. The remit of the IVRLA demonstrator projects was to provide digital research resources and to show how digital repositories could not only provide access to archival research materials, but could also present material in new ways and suggest possibilities for further research. In order to provide a resource that could facilitate research into the cultural, historical, and political resonance of the 1916 Rising, this project extensively surveyed and documented UCD’s 1916-related archival material, digitised a selection of this material, and created an online exhibition collection of the sample digitised material together with detailed resource lists of the complete material. The paper outlines the historical context of the 1916 Rising and its subsequent re-interpretation, discusses the work involved in surveying and documenting the archival holdings, details issues encountered in selecting appropriate material for digitisation, and provides an overview of the historical background of the material presented. It concludes with suggestions for how this and similar projects could be developed in the future.