PRONI puts directories online

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has put nearly 30 directories online.

PRONI has added the following directories to its free website:

• Bradshaw’s General and Commercial Directory for 1819;
• Belfast Directory 1831-32;
• Matier’s Belfast Directory 1835-36;
• Martin’s Belfast Directory 1839;
• Martin’s Belfast Directory 1841-42;
• New Directory of the City of Londonderry and Coleraine, including Strabane with Lifford, Newtownlimavady, Portstewart and Portrush;
• The New Commercial Directory of Armagh, Newry, Londonderry, Drogheda, Dundalk, Monaghan, Omagh, Strabane, Dungannon, Lisburn, Lurgan, Portadown and neighbouring towns;
• Martin’s Belfast Directory 1842-43;
• Henderson’s New Belfast and Northern Repository 1843-44;
• Henderson’s Belfast Directory and Northern Repository 1846-47;
• Henderson’s Belfast Directory and Northern Repository 1850;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1852;
• Henderson’s Belfast Directory and Northern Repository 1852;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1858-59 Volume 4;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1863-64 Volume 6;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1865;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1866;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1870;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1877;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1880;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1884;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1887;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1890 Volume 13;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1892;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1895 Volume 16;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1896;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1897;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1899 Volume 20;
• The Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory 1900.

PRONI says that the street directories featured on its website consist of original volumes from 1819 to 1900, although it doesn’t have copies of all street directories published before 1852, and there are gaps in its series of the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory.

PRONI says that these volumes, which were previously on open access in its search room, were heavily used, and that the paper in some of the volumes was very fragile. The directories were therefore at risk, as pages or parts of pages had already been lost or damaged, and further handling would have endangered their long term preservation.

PRONI therefore decided to scan the directories and provide a search facility that would enable users to find key words in a section of a directory, in a particular directory or in any directories.

About these ads