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PRONI Records on CAIN

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Introduction

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A selection of digital versions of records held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) have been made available on the CAINOpens a new browser window. (Conflict Archive on the INternet) website. The records selected relate to the conflict and politics in Northern Ireland and mainly cover the period 1968-1981. This online resource gives public access to records from the early years of the 'Troubles' and has been launched by the University of Ulster and PRONI. The PRONI records can be accessed via a dedicated portal site, within the main CAIN website called 'PRONI Records on CAIN'Opens a new browser window..

What is CAIN?

CAIN was launched in 1997 with the aim of providing information and source material on the 'Troubles' and politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present day. The site has been widely used by academic researchers and others working in areas such as historical, cultural, conflict resolution, peace-studies and Irish studies.

PRONI records on CAIN

Since it was launched CAIN has encouraged external contributors to the site and in 2009 CAIN approached PRONI and proposed that a selection of public records might be digitised and made available on the website. Those items covered under the 'Annual Release' scheme, relating to the 'Troubles' and Northern Ireland politics post-1968, were of particular interest to CAIN. Making this material available electronically supports both CAIN's objectives and PRONI's aim of making records available to as wide an audience as possible.

What is available?

PRONI records available on CAIN relate to the conflict and politics in Northern Ireland. The initial selection mainly covered the years 1968-1982 with some additional records from 1964 and 1965 relating to the issue of education. The records continue to be added to in line with PRONI's latest annual releases and include files from a range of government departments incuding the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of home Affairs and the Department of the Prime Minister. The site includes a search facilityOpens a new browser window. and the records can also be browsed by year, author or PRONI reference number.