New project, funded by the Royal Irish Academy
This project involves the digitisation of the registers of Carysfort College, 1883-1922. It is supported by a Nowlan Digitisation Award (RIA) to Professor Deirdre Raftery, and will be completed by the ConventCollections research team and UCD Digital Library.
The teacher training college that became known as Carysfort, was established by the Sisters of Mercy on Baggot Street, in 1883. In 1903, the training school was relocated to a large urban estate at Carysfort, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. The registers contain entries on every student including: name, date of birth, marital status, diocese and parish of birth, diocese and parish of residence, school address (if already employed), subjects studied, and class of diploma awarded. Where students were ‘monitors’, additional information was gathered, that gives much insight into the young age at which many girls started to train as teachers. Where students had already held teaching appointments before going to Dublin to start their training, data was gathered on the name and address of their school manager, and the ‘class and division’ that the trainee teacher had taught. The project will make a significant contribution to our understanding of the development of the teaching profession in Ireland.
