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This rich collection offers a window into Irish family history through the pages of the Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland (also known as the Journal of the Irish Memorials Association), published between 1892 and 1934. Most of the entries focus on monumental inscriptions and gravestone texts; you’ll also find memorials created by relatives, often noting who commissioned them, alongside a surprising variety of other historical material.

For the family historian, the journals are a treasure trove. Some entries go beyond basic inscriptions to include snippets of family history, pedigree charts, and even full descendant reports. You may also encounter transcriptions of parish registers, funeral notices, newspaper clippings, wills, marriage licence bonds, and extracts from family bibles. Heraldic content, including coats of arms, both illustrated and described, features throughout, as do lists of ministers, church and graveyard histories, and even descriptions of sacred objects like chalices. The content was crowdsourced from a wide range of contributors: clergy documenting their parishes, amateur historians, and individuals researching their own ancestry.