Research

The following is a selection of sources you might use to research the lives of women in any area of Ireland during the early modern period.

• Annals
  
• Census of population
• Trade directories
• Lewis, Topographical Dictionary, 1836
• Government reports and commissions of inquiry
• Local newspapers
• Advertisements
• Local museums
• Local, parish, county, diocesan and school histories
• Drawings and paintings
• Family archives: pictures, drawings, papers, letters, books, family trees, etc.
• Records of institutions such as schools, hospitals, convents, etc.
• Old ledgers, bill heads and other business records
• Artefacts associated with child rearing
• Artefacts associated with the preparation, cooking or serving of food
• Artefacts associated with the production of cloth and garments, etc.
• Artefacts associated with needlework crafts such as knitting, crochet, embroidery, lace, etc.
• Examples of art and craft work
• Cookery books
• Books about child rearing
• Books about religion, morality, good conduct, etc.
• Autobiographies and biographies
• Interviews with older people. You might record their memories and stories
• Local folklore
• Buildings

A directory of sources for women's history in Ireland is a useful means of accessing primary sources for the history of women in Ireland. It contains information and descriptions of over 14,000 collections and 262 repositories.

The directory can be accessed on the Internet and is also available on CD ROM.

The Field Day anthology of Irish writing, Vols. IV & V: Irish women's writing and traditions is a comprehensive collection of texts written and spoken by and about women from the very earliest manuscripts down to the present day. It contains a wealth of primary sources and with scholarly introductions on the one hand and detailed notes on the other hand, it is an approachable publication.

Field Day anthology of Irish writing, Vols. IV & V: Irish women's writing and traditions, Cork, 2002.

Use the website Genesis to research the history of women more widely.

Exhibition or publication

Some of the information you find may be very important or it may be interesting or colourful but if you do not publish it in some way, it may be lost for ever, so do consider an exhibition, a publication or a performance.