IFHS Journal 2025
Following on from his November talk (part 1), Michael Foley will give a presentation on how to bring all of your family research – the records, the stories, the family trees, and the photos together into a beautiful book – the story of your family that you can hold in your hand and share with your family. It’s easier and cheaper than you think, made with standard Word and PowerPoint software, and printed in your local print shop. If you can type with two fingers you can do it!
Michael developed an interest in photography while studying Philosphy in UCD then later got a job in the Education Department in UCD teaching trainee teachers about Audio Visual Aids, culminating in directing his own department offering audiovisual services college-wide in UCD. In that he also led EU funded research programs into the potential of interactive classrooms for sharing knowledge remotely.
In 1997 his work caught the eye of the World Bank Institute in Washington DC and he was invited to work on developing a global system of knowledge sharing using satellites, videoconferencing, and online learning which became known as the Global Devlopment Learning Network (GDLN).
While traveling to build the partnership of the GDLN for the Bank he indulged his interest in photography in his spare time to wander the streets of developing countries to document local life there – with a special interest in faces. His work forms part of the World Bank Art program’s permanent collection, and he has exhibited in the National Press Club in Washington in his own exhibition “Faces of South Asia”.
The US Library of Congress holds photos of his from Afghanistan and Pakistan. In retirement he has become deeply interested in Family history and continues his interest in photography.
We will be attending the Northern Ireland Libraries family history event as part of their Heritage Week promoting Irish family history research.
AGM Agenda:
2.30-3.15pm Business of the AGM
3.15 – 4.15pm Talk: Getting ready for the 1926 census by Dr Noel Carolan
Noel is a father, husband, increasingly slow runner and historian with a focus on national, local and family history. His PhD research on the political history of Ireland’s food supply from 1895 to 1923 resulted in the delivery of conference papers in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Britain, and the Czech Republic. For decades, he has delivered talks to local history and community groups. He is an active member of Raheny Heritage Society, based in a northern suburb of Dublin city, which divides its interest between local history and family history.
We are delighted to have John Grenham as the first speaker in our series of 3 sessions making up our Spring Into Action course series. This series is designed to present different types of case studies of Irish family history research.
John Grenham was Project Manager with the Irish Genealogical Project from 1991 to 1995 and later went on to develop and market his own genealogical software, ‘Grenham’s Irish Recordfinder’. In 2005, he was the first Genealogist-in-Residence at Dublin City Library . He was awarded a fellowship of The Irish Genealogical Research Society in 2007, of the Genealogical Society of Ireland in 2010 and Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) in 2021. He is the author of Tracing your Irish Ancestors (5th ed. Dublin, Baltimore MD, 2019) the standard reference guide for Irish genealogy, The Atlantic Coast of Ireland (2014), Clans and Families of Ireland (1995), and An Illustrated History of Ireland (1997), among other works. He wrote the “Irish Roots” column in The Irish Times from 2009 to 2016, has developed heritage databases with Dublin City Library and Archive and the National Archives of Ireland, and ran the Irish Ancestors website in conjunction with The Irish Times until 2016. In partnership with his son Eoin, he now runs the successor website at www.johngrenham.com.
He was an external member of the National Library of Ireland Genealogy and Heraldry Committee from 2011 to 2021. He has been a member of the full NLI board since 2021 and also chairs the Genealogy and Heraldry Committee.
Placeholder for 2nd talk in a series of 3 making up our Spring Into Action course series.
This will be presented by Kieran Jordan.
Placeholder for 3rd talk in a series of 3 making up our Spring Into Action course series.
The IFHS will have a stand at The Family History Show in Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool. This is a chance to meet up with any members in the area and to attract new members to join us!
Date to be confirmed.
This talk will be presented by Kay Caball. Kay is a native of Listowel, Co. Kerry. She studied Genealogy at the University of Limerick and is a Council Member of the Kerry Archaeological & Historical Society.
She researches and blogs through MyKerryAncestors.com. Kay’s publications include The Kerry Girls: Emigration & the Earl Grey Scheme (2014), Finding Your Ancestors in Kerry (2015) and The Fall of the Fitzmaurices: The Demise of Kerry’s first Family (2020).
As part of the controversial Earl Grey Scheme, Kay tells the true story of the Kerry girls who were shipped to Australia from the four Kerry workhouses of Dingle, Kenmare, Killarney and Listowel in 1849 and 1850. Leaving behind scenes of destitution and misery, the girls, some of whom spoke only Irish, set off to the other side of the world without any idea of what lay ahead.
