Duchas.ie – Irish School Records and more

Landscape: Picture of donkey with side panniers. by Caoimhín Ó Danachair Settlement: landscape | dúchas.ie (duchas.ie) https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbeg/828 The Photographic Collection, A001.01.00052 Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD

I have been reviewing genealogy records from my Irish ancestors and was reminded of this interesting site:  dúchas.ie (duchas.ie) which features Irish School Records. These records are not quite what you’d expect. Let’s look.

According to the site, The Irish School Records “is a collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s.” They are not records of report cards or attendance but much more fun with stories that these children knew of from family and friends.
 
While your ancestors from Ireland may have immigrated to the United States much earlier than the 1930s, if you know the county or area that they came from, you can get a sense of what folktales were popular or common in that region. Part of the charm of these tales is that the images of the actual document in the children’s handwriting has been included plus a handy typed transcription. It can help us better understand the culture of that time. Or perhaps some of those folklores were carried down in your own family.
 Here are a few examples:
Hidden Treasures
Miss Maria O’Sullivan’s Horse
A Story
 In addition to these stories, there is a collection of old photographs of Ireland. One of the features of this site that I like is that you can filter by the County, and you can also do a search. I’ve searched by surname or place or used quotes to capture full names. All worked well when exploring this site.
 
While this isn’t technically a genealogy research site, you will have fun exploring these records. Hopefully, they will make you think of folktales within your own family. Enjoy learning more about the stories of Ireland.