The Bureau of Military History in Ireland was established in January 1947 by

Oscar Traynor Oscar Traynor (21 March 1886 – 14 December 1963) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and republican who served as Minister for Justice from 1957 to 1961, Minister for Defence from 1939 to 1948 and 1951 to 1954, Minister for Posts and Telegra ...

TD,

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and former Captain in the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

. The rationale for the establishment of the Bureau was to give individuals who played an active part in the events which brought about Irish Independence a chance to record their own experiences. Those who took part included members of groups such as the

and subsequently the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

(IRA),

Cumann na mBan Cumann na mBan (; literally "The Women's Council" but calling themselves The Irishwomen's Council in English), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and d ...

, the

Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...

(IRB),

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

, the

Irish Citizen Army The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a small paramilitary group of trained trade union volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) established in Dublin for the defence of workers' demonstrations from the Dublin M ...

, and relatives of deceased not associated with any organisation. The materials were closed until 2003, when they were opened to public access. In 2012, a substantial portion of the materials were made available online.

Contemporary documents

In the ten years subsequent to its establishment the project collected 1,773 witness statements totaling 35,000 pages, 334 sets of contemporary documents, 42 photographs, 12 voice recordings, 210 photographs of action sites of Easter Week, and a collection of press cuttings. The objective was then ‘to assemble and co-ordinate material to form the basis for the compilation of the history of the movement for Independence from the formation of the Irish Volunteers on 25 November 1913, to 11 July 1921.’ When the Bureau members had completed their mission, they oversaw the placing of the witness statements into 83 steel boxes, together with 66 annexes to witness statements, 54 collections of records of people who did not contribute statements, 178 collections of press cuttings, 12 voice recordings, 246 photographs and 322 bundles of original documents. In March 1959, the archive was locked in the strongroom in Government Buildings, not to be released to researchers and the general public until after the death of the last recipient of the military-service pension that had testified to the Bureau.Annie Ryan, Witnesses:Inside the Easter Rising, Liberties, 2005,

Formally opened

On 11 March 2003, the Bureau of Military History collection of Witness Statements was formally made available to the public. Beginning in 1999, under the direction of

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

Victor Laing, four civilian archivists were involved in processing the collection. (During processing the collection itself remained closed to the public). Copies of the Statements (less the Contemporary Documents (CDs), still held at Cathal Brugha Barracks), were deposited at the

National Archives of Ireland The National Archives of Ireland ( ga, Cartlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the official repository for the state records of Ireland. Established by the National Archives Act 1986, taking over the functions of the State Paper Office (founded 17 ...

where they can now be examined by all. In attendance at the hand-over were the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...

TD, Minister for Defence Michael Smith TD, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General C. Mangan, and a number of officers and soldiers of the Irish army. Also present were a number of historians and several children and grandchildren of witnesses. Bertie Ahern in his opening address said: "I am delighted to be here this evening in the historic setting of

Cathal Brugha Cathal Brugha (; born Charles William St John Burgess; 18 July 1874 – 7 July 1922) was an Irish republican politician who served as Minister for Defence from 1919 to 1922, Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in January 1919, the first presiden ...

Barracks to mark an event of the utmost significance to the birth of our modern democracy." Commenting on the collection he continued "The Bureau of Military History collection is truly a treasure trove of the personal memories and reflections of the men and women who nursed this country into existence. It records an era of sacrifice, bravery and vision, by those who played an active part in the irresistible final momentum to our national independence." According to Margaret Mac Curtain, who comments on Professor F X. Martin, who "had glumly described the inaccessible Bureau of Military History as being cut off from the public by an ‘official iron curtain’ on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 Rising, states "the definitive history of the 1916 Rising has yet to be written; these statements will be indispensable for those who seek to write it."

Digitisation and online access

A substantial part of Bureau of Military History records have now been digitized and made available in searchable format. The online data, comprising 35 000 pages, 42 photographic collections and 12 voice recordings was officially launched by Arts Minister

Jimmy Deenihan Jimmy Deenihan (born 11 September 1952) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for the Diaspora from 2014 to 2016, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht from 2011 to 2014 and Minister of State at the D ...

on 7 August 2012.

Sources

Department of the TaoiseachDefence Forces Headquarters
*Annie Ryan, Witnesses:Inside the Easter Rising, Liberties, 2005,

Notes

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External links