Cardinal Tomas Ó Fiaich Memorial Library And Archive

About

The Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library and Archive is a unique cultural and historical resource. It is a free, independent public reference library and a charity, which houses important collections relating to Irish history, the Irish language and Irish literature, ecclesiastical history, the Irish abroad, and Irish sport.

Cardinal Ó Fiaich's papers and books form the nucleus of the collection with substantial additions from the records of the archdiocese of Armagh. The core of the library collection consists of approximately 40,000 published volumes and 450 periodical titles. The archive contains just under one kilometre of document storage housing about one million documents. The largest collection, the Irish Overseas Archive contains items of historical and genealogical interest on Irish families in Europe from the 16th until the 19th century. The material is drawn from eight different countries including France, Italy and Spain.

The manuscript collection preserves several important Irish language sources for poetry in south Ulster and the sports collection holds a vast collection of match programmes for Gaelic games along with original historical records, artefacts and publications.

A family history research service is provided on a fee paying basis with access to the Catholic church records for the archdiocese of Armagh. Other church records include those relating to individual parishes within the archdiocese and the papers of the archbishops of Armagh from the time of the French Revolution until the 1960s.

The library and archive provides regular lectures on themes relating to the collections and welcomes visitors for casual inquiries and larger parties by prior arrangement. A number of notable original art works are also kept by the library.