PRONI Says a Big “Thank You” at its Annual Depositors’ Day Event

Published date: 12 June 2026

A large group of around 50 people stand in the PRONI atrium — Attendees at PRONI’s 2026 Depositors’ Day Event

Last year, a total of 95 privately deposited collections ranging in size from a single photograph to 78 boxes were added to PRONI’s holdings. Depositors included individuals and families, charitable organisations, businesses, clubs and societies. Lorraine Bourke, PRONI’s Head of Private Records, gave an illustrated talk highlighting this truly diverse range of collections and some of the fascinating stories contained within them. These stories encompassed the local to the cosmic taking us all the way from Edenderry to the Apollo Space Mission!

PRONI Director David Huddleston said that:

PRONI is tasked with the important mission of identifying, preserving and promoting public access to Northern Ireland’s archival heritage. Depositors’ Day is an important opportunity for us to thank private depositors who help us deliver on this mission by entrusting their collections to PRONI so that they can be preserved and made publicly available to inform, educate and inspire people both now and in the future.

The event also showcased the importance of collaboration and partnership working with presentations from some of the organisations that PRONI’s Private Records team worked with over the last year. NI Screen’s Evan Marshall treated attendees to a ‘sneak peak’ of recently digitised material from the UTV archive. Complete with Virtual Reality headsets, Niall Kerr, the Nerve Centre, showcased some of the engagement work undertaken as part of the Now We’re Talking project and inspired by the archive of Michael J Murphy.

a classroom of school children sitting at their desks while a man at the top of the room holds a large yellow page — Students from Dromintee Primary School, Co. Armagh storyboarding ideas for a V-R film made as part of the Now We’re Talking project.

Some of the private records deposited last year highlight the important contribution that clubs and societies, advocacy groups and charitable organisations make to our lives. Others provide insights into the contribution of innovators and creative thinkers. While some document painful experiences and underscore our shared humanity.

Six colourful badges, each of them showing messages supporting Cara-Friend and the LGBTQIA+ community — LGBTQIA+ badges from the Cara-Friend Archive (D4437)

Without doubt, the most romantic document deposited last with PRONI last year was a scrapbook containing programmes, menu cards and ticket stubs recording the dates of a Belfast-based couple who married in 1952.

Page from a scrapbook with a bright blue programme for the Majestic Cinema in Belfast - Under the programme page, there is a handwritten caption reading "Once upon a time (not so very long ago) there was a cinema called the Majestic and in the back row of the back circle there were two seats. (I bet these two seats could tell some tales) Hush!" — The Hughes family scrapbook dating from 1948 – 1951 (D5063/1/1)

For many attendees, the highlight of the event was the opportunity to meet PRONI staff and have a ‘behind the scenes’ tour to see how their records are looked after and made available to the public.

David Huddleston’s welcome address and the illustrated talks given by Lorraine Bourke and Niall Kerr as part of the Depositors’ Day event are now available on PRONI’s YouTube channel.