Beyond 2022’s innovative project, Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland: Recreating Ireland’s history through digital innovation, has been recently nominated for the prestigious Digital Media Award in the category ‘Best in Government and Not For Profit’ award. Finalists are carefully evaluated by an esteemed panel of judges in order to identify groups of outstanding individuals and establishments who have demonstrated exemplary dedication and excellence in the industry. The award ceremony will take place on Friday 29th September.
The Virtual Treasury is the outcome of a five-year State-funded programme of research entitled ‘Beyond 2022’. Led by Trinity College Dublin, Beyond 2022 has combined historical investigation, archival conservation, and technical innovation to recreate the Public Records Office archive that was lost on 30th June 1922 in the opening engagement of the Irish Civil War. The project was officially launched on the 27th June 2022 marking 100 years since the destruction of the archives.
The ground-breaking research programme has been developed by historians in Trinity College and computer scientists in the SFI ADAPT Centre, in partnership with five core partners: National Archives of Ireland, National Archives (UK), Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Irish Manuscripts Commission and the Library of Trinity College Dublin. The Virtual Record Treasury is a meaningful legacy for the State’s Decade of Centenaries programme (2012-2023). It is funded by the Government of Ireland under Project Ireland 2040 through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
