Eneclann - 20x20 GAS talks

In August 2012, the National Library of Ireland hosted the “20x20” lunchtime series of talks on Irish family history.

Organised by Eneclann and Ancestor Network, the assembled experts included genealogists and broadcasters, librarians and archivists, writers and publishers, academics and a medical geneticist. The wide range of expertise on show every day was a show-case of Irish genealogy at its best.

Each expert held the floor for 20 minutes, and spoke about an aspect of their own work and its relevance for Irish family history. Each talk was followed by a Q&A session, which gave the audience direct access to the speaker.

As the month progressed, it became clear that the lunchtime talks drew a regular home (Irish) audience in attendance every day, as well as overseas visitors attending two or more of the lectures while they stayed in Dublin.

The response from the audience at the end of the series in August was overwhelming, and the most frequently asked question was whether the speakers would provide notes on their talks, or otherwise make them available.

In response to the feedback that we received in August, we are now making available the overheads of each of the talks or a synopsis. We hope that this will become an online resource for all those involved in Irish family history, and will promote knowledge and use of the main collections of historical records for research.

Many thanks go to the speakers for providing their research and lecture material. Click on the title of each talk below for more information on that topic.

Sean Murphy, UCD Genealogy, Getting Started on Irish Genealogy

Mary Sullivan, Irish Family History Foundation, Irish church records

Brian Donovan, Eneclann, Irish genealogy online

John Grenham, author of Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Why are Irish surnames so weird?

Gianpiero Cavallieri, Royal College of Surgeons, Irish genes and ancestry

Susan Hood, Representative Church Body Library, Records for genealogical research at the Representative Church Body Library

Turtle Bunbury, author of Vanishing Ireland, Genealogical sources of ‘Big House’ families

Jennifer Doyle, Eneclann, Using newspapers to trace your family history

Brian Mitchell, author of A Guide to Irish Parish Registers, Irish placenames – tracing where your ancestors came from

Eileen Ó Dúill, Genealogist, Irish births, marriages and deaths for beginners

Carmel Gilbride, Eneclann, Using Valuation Office records to trace your family

Jim Herlihy, author of The Royal Irish Constabulary, Records of the RIC and DMP