Local history: where else can i do research?
The Local Studies Libraries
The Local Studies collections at the library headquarters of each of the Education and Library Boards 
form a valuable resource for the local historian. The collection at the South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB) alone comprises some 30,000 volumes. Each of the collections will have special emphasis on the counties or parts of counties covered by that Board area. They hold, for example:- Copies of Ordnance Survey maps for the 19th and early 20th centuries and Valuation Maps to accompany Griffith’s Valuation of the 1860s.
- Copies of the printed Griffith’s Valuation books (c.1860) for their local areas.
- The published Ordnance Survey Memoirs compiled to complement the first editions of the Ordnance Survey maps.
- Postcards of local scees, mainly Victorian and Edwardian.
- Irish periodicals which will have local history articles.
- Newspaper collections (mostly on microfilm) with indexes in some instances.
- Source lists relating to subject and places. For example, the SEELB Local Studies Library has source lists for agrarian crime and civil disorder in County Down 1837-1886, and for a number of towns and villages like Comber, Donaghadee and Killyleagh.
- Street directories, both provincial and local, from the early 19th century onwards.
Local Museums
Local museums, such as the county museums at Downpatrick, Armagh, Enniskillen, Ballymena and the Tower Museum and Harbour Museum in Londonderry, have extensive permanent exhibitions on the history of their local areas. There is also now a wide network of museums in some of the smaller towns such as those at Ballymoney, Newry and Carrickfergus that also house excellent exhibitions. Some of these will have small archive collections, photographs and maps.National Museums and Galleries
The Ulster Museum , the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Ulster American Folk Park will also have resources of interest to the local historian. Besides their permanent exhibition galleries and outdoor exhibits, some have extensive photographic collections, for example the Hogg collection at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Welch collection at the Ulster Museum.The Centre for Migration Studies , based at the Ulster American Folk Park outside Omagh, maintains a database of information on emigration to North America that includes emigrant letter, ships’ passenger lists, emigration and advertisements in newspapers. This database is available in PRONI and in any local library. The Centre for Migration Studies also holds an extensive library of books and journals on emigration.
, based at the Ulster American Folk Park outside Omagh, maintains a database of information on emigration to North America that includes emigrant letter, ships’ passenger lists, emigration and advertisements in newspapers. This database is available in PRONI and in any local library. The Centre for Migration Studies also holds an extensive library of books and journals on emigration.
