Open Day at the National Archives

The one-hundred-and-fifty-two visitors who came to the National Archives on Saturday 12 February certainly made the most of their day out. Under the banner-headline "Who we are and what we do—a day of seminars and tours focusing on the work and holdings of the National Archives", we hosted a one-day event as part of a programme of education, community and outreach activities organised by the Council of National Cultural Institutions during the month of February.

The Open Day offered a variety of visits, seminars and practical sessions. All events ran parallel one to another and all were repeated throughout the day:

• A Visit to Storage Areas and Conservation Studio

• A Short introduction to the Reading Room.

• Practical introduction to using Census Returns.

• Practical introduction to using Wills and related records.

• Practical introduction to using National School records.

• Practical introduction to using Ordnance Survey maps.

• Departmental records, learning about the National Archives Act and departmental record transfers.

• Sources on the World Wide Web, learning about using the Internet for personal research.

• Counties in Time, learning about selected relevant sources for specific area from records held by the National Archives and available in CD ROM format.

Throughout the day there were two exhibitions in the Reading Room. One consisted of recently conserved original documents and mirrored the talks going on in the Reading Room. The exhibition cases held 1901 and 1911 census returns, a Certified Copy will, a National School register as well as a Boundary Survey map. The free-standing exhibition ìA Nation and not a Rabbleî examining the history of Ireland from 1921 to 1922 was displayed across one end of the room. At the same time, and also in the Reading Room, two bookstands were available. The National Archives itself ran one while members of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland who provide the Genealogy Service in the National Archives ran the other. Both were deemed to be a great success.

An evaluation form was provided at the end of the visit and sixty-five people chose to fill it out. An amazing twenty-two intrepid people noted that they had ìstayed for more than three hoursî while nineteen each had ìstayed for up to two hoursî and for ìup to three hoursî. An interesting exercise would be to correlate those who stayed for longest with those who came from furthest away. More than one visitor arrived from the West coast!

While it was possible to participate in all sessions throughout the day a break for lunch was not guaranteed and one visitor was still reading some of the free-standing exhibition panels while the exhibition was being dismantled at the other end of the row! Another, staggering for the lift in mid-afternoon, announced that he had had only bread and tea early in the morning! The coffee-ship in the neighbouring D.I.T., hopefully, did excellent business!

Over half of the staff of the National Archives voted to be of assistance during the Open Day. Many were already in place shortly after nine though the sessions did not being until ten. Such was the demand for places that, despite the notices stating that ìbooking was essentialî, the Front Hall was stormed by eager visitors when the Front Doors opened at nine-forty-five.

Only one visitor recorded the view that the Open Day was "very poor".  Most recorded the Open Day as being "very good" while the complimentary comments included: "Thanks for a very useful & enjoyable afternoon!! Everyone was extremely helpful" or "I found the time of 1 hour too short for all the lectures I attended". The author is forced to acknowledge one comment which read: "National School talk - A. Ireland was excellent".

Most participants were happy to leave contact details behind. The National Archives now has a sizeable database of people anxious to participate in future events or to be informed of future developments within the institution.

Thanks must go to all who participated—the eager public and the dedicated staff. Most staff were on their feet for over seven hours and the clearing-up and tidying-away could only take place once all the public had left the building. Periodic cups of strong coffee did nothing to balm the feet!

The usual Open Day for the National Archives is during Archive Awareness Month in September. The Education, Community and Outreach activities organised by the Council of National Cultural Institutions during the month of February were unique. And will there be another Open Day in the National Archives this September? Quite probably, but thankfully "tomorrow is another day"!

Aideen Ireland
National Archives