Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 15 August 2009
Archives Awareness Month
Next Thursday in Dublin the journalist and broadcaster, Vincent Browne, will launch the 2009 Archives Awareness Campaign which is part of a British and Irish initiative to broaden society’s understanding of the vital role which archives play in modern life.
In the particular context of the Church of Ireland, there has been a growing awareness in the church of its archival responsibilities. Following the appointment of the church’s first archivist, in 1981, the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin has been developed as the Church of Ireland’s archives. The Library now manages records from almost 1,000 parishes, 20 dioceses and 20 cathedrals as well as the non-current records of the General Synod, Representative Church Body and their various committees and commissions. In addition there are 865 collections of manuscripts which relate to the life and witness of Church of Ireland clergy, laity and organizations and which complement the official records of the church.
The management of these collections provides unrivalled opportunities to bring the Church of Ireland into contact with a wide range of groups both in Ireland and beyond – academics, students, genealogists, architects, artists, solicitors. For some the attraction is academic, for some professional, for others (the retired, the unemployed and the under-employed) it is part of the disciplines which they have adopted to make use of free time. Many of these people have never had any significant contact with the Church of Ireland and their contact with the RCB Library is an important part of the church’s outreach.
Cooperation with other institutions is also a significant part of the Library’s work. The present chairman of the Library & Archives Committee, Michael Webb, is also Chairman if the Irish Architectural Archive with which there has been excellent cooperation in providing access to the church’s database of stained glass windows.
Another example of an important collaborative project is that with UCC to preserve the archive of William Burgess relating to the building of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral. Despite the recent scaling back of heritage activities around the country, UCC Library has been fortunate in securing €18,000 to undertake essential conservation and restoration work on four large format volumes of drawings of the furnishings and interior design of St. Fin Barre’s. The full archive was transferred to UCC for safekeeping earlier this year where Library Archivist, Carol Quinn, had been active for a number of years in co-ordinating the conservation of the collection. This conservation work, in particular that of the cartoons for the stained glass windows and mosaics, has been aided by funding from the Heritage Council and private donations. The project has been undertaken in partnership with the RCB Library, the Dean and Chapter of St. Fin Barre’s and UCC Library, and when fully conserved it is hoped to display items from the archive in St. Fin Barre’s and open the full collection for study.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning RTE Radio will broadcast a Service of the Word conducted by the Revd Tom Gordon at which the preacher will be Dr Lindsay Hall
On Wednesday the Bishop of Nazareth, Dr Geevarghese Mar Theodosius, will visit the Archbishop of Dublin, while on Friday the former Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Walton Empey, will be the celebrant at a Memorial Eucharist for the late Very Revd W.J. Grant, Dean of Tuan, in Christ Church, Taney, at 5pm.
The final recital in this year’s St Barrahane’s Church Festival of Music in Castletownshend will be given on Thursday evening by the pianist, Finghin Collins.