VRTI deposits new cross-border collaboration with Armagh Robinson Library and Maynooth University in Digital Repository of Ireland

The VRTI has collaborated with the Armagh Robinson Library, Maynooth University and the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) to publish a new collection – The County Descriptions of the Physico-Historical Society — through the Nowlan Digitisation Grants.  This material will soon be available on the VRTI as well — watch this space.

The Physico-Historical Society was founded in 1744 by ‘some twenty gentlemen’ in the Lords’ Committee Room of Dublin Parliament House. The objective of this society was, ‘the publication of a detailed survey of each of the Irish counties’ in the hope that, ‘such volumes would encourage industrious foreigners to settle in Ireland and thus stimulate the national economy.’ The original manuscripts are held by the Armagh Robinson Library (MS P001498343: Physico-Historical Society MSS).

Now in 2026, forty digitally preserved papers from the society are available on open-access in the Repository for all to see and use. These papers feature information on counties across Ireland that range from Kildare to Wexford. The below image highlights records of ‘curiosities’ from Wicklow, Louth, Meath, Sligo and Fermanagh.

The collection can be viewed on the DRI here.

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For more information, read about the collection on the DRI’s page here.

The Nowlan Digitisation Grants are an initiative from the Royal Irish Academy that support projects making digitised historical and archaeological materials available to researchers and the general public through open and free online access. The grant is intended to fund research that involves professional digitisation and results in a clearly defined, standalone digital output.