Many family historians with Irish roots who encounter difficulties locating relevant records attribute their lack of success to the fact that “everything was burned in the fire”. This ubiquitous statement refers to the burning of the Record Treasury building of the Public Record Office of Ireland (PROI) in late June 1922. This event, which can still elicit tears and rage from archivists, historians and genealogists, was responsible for the destruction of a very significant collection of records. However, not all genealogical records were held in the PROI, and not all of the collections in the PROI were entirely destroyed. The centenary of the fire will be commemorated with the launch of an ambitious project to reconstruct some of what was lost in 1922.
The destruction of the PROI was the first action of the Irish Civil War, the culmination of a decades-long campaign for home rule and, latterly, independence from British rule. The Irish War of Independence (1919–1921) brought the British government to the negotiating table. The December 1921 talks between British and Irish leaders concluded with the Anglo-Irish Treaty, an agreement for self-government for Ireland. However, the treaty contained clauses, such as an oath of
