Dúchas

The objective of the Dúchas project is to digitize the National Folklore Collection and enable access to material from the Collection on a public website ((opens in a new window)www.duchas.ie ), and to put in place a data management system for the Collection.

(opens in a new window)Dúchas.ie is a collaboration between the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin (UCD) and Fiontar agus Scoil na Gaeilge, Dublin City University (DCU), and is funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (with support from the National Lottery), University College Dublin, and the National Folklore Foundation.

The project commenced in 2012, when a digital archive and a custom-made data management and editorial interface were created for the purpose of indexing the Schools’ Collection material. To date, almost 500,000 manuscript pages of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in the 1930s have been digitized and published on the website. The majority of parishes in what was then known as the Irish Free State are represented in the collection.

Users of the Dúchas.ie website can now:

• Search by 1) people, 2) topics and 3) places
• Explore a comprehensive index of Irish surnames to assist in their family history research
• Participate in Meitheal dúchas.ie, a public transcription project that digitizes handwritten text from manuscripts

The aim of the current phase of the project (2017-19) is to continue the development, digitisation and editorial work, focusing on the Photographic Collection and the Main Manuscript Collection. The Dúchas.ie team proposes to have the following resources in place by the end of 2017:

• Public access to additional archive material from the National Folklore Collection, initially the Photographic Collection.
• Full redesign of the website dúchas.ie, including a version suitable for mobile devices
• A new data management system for the National Folklore Collection
• Development of new information resources based on the Collection.‌