The library is delighted to launch the new Research Collections Blog. Research Collections is made up of three separate library departments – Early Printed Books and Special Collections, Manuscripts and Archives and the Glucksman Map Library.
Early Printed Books and Special Collections (EPB) is responsible for some of the oldest and rarest print collections in Ireland. Along with early printed books and pamphlets, we collect private press items, limited editions, fine bindings, associated copies, Irish literature and much else that is of value to researchers.
Manuscripts & Archives holds a broad range of unique archival, manuscript and object collections. Holdings encompass the world-famous 9th-century Christian Gospel the Book of Kells to the business archives of our University. We collect literary archives and manuscripts which reflect the history of Ireland and beyond, and the personal records of individuals.
The Glucksman Map Library holds over half a million maps and atlases making it the largest collection of printed maps in Ireland. It includes rare older material as well as modern mapping. The collections are particularly strong on maps of Ireland and Great Britain, but they also include coverage of Europe, Africa and the rest of the world at less detailed scales.
Researchers may recall our old Reading Rooms in the Old Library. We are now located in the basement of the Ussher Library, while the redevelopment of the Old Library continues.
The previous incarnations of our blogs are no longer available in their original formats. However, many previous posts are viewable in archival form via the Wayback Machine; how complete any particular post (especially the images) will be is variable. Please see the 2024 version of our blog Research Collections at Trinity – which combined the two previous blogs Manuscripts at Trinity and Tales of Mystery and Pagination – as an example. Our hope is to revisit some of those posts over time at our new home. The aims of this new blog are to promote our holdings, stimulate and support research and to provide a news platform to report on our specific funded projects.
To never miss a post, please subscribe. Legacy-subscribers from our earlier blogs will need to resubscribe. Please take the opportunity to share any posts as the blog builds up over time. There is ample room for guest blog posts so please get in touch if you would like to contribute a piece for the site.
General note: our featured image of the Old Library is from a portfolio of five etchings of Trinity College by M.K. [Myra Kathleen] Hughes (shelfmark: OLS Papyrus Case 132).
