Armagh Robinson Library, established in 1771, is Northern Ireland’s oldest public library. A NMCT grant has enabled the Library to engage a paper conservator to conserve the correspondence of Lord John George Beresford, who was Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, 1822–1862.
The collection offers a fascinating insight into the established Church of Ireland in the four decades prior to Disestablishment. During this period the privileged position of the denomination came under increasing attack, with references in the correspondence to Catholic Emancipation (1829), the structural and other changes brought about by the Church Temporalities Act (1833), and the Tithe War of the 1830s.
There is also significant material relating to the evangelical revival of the early 19th century, sometimes referred to as the ‘Second Reformation’, as well as the Church’s attitude to the introduction of the Irish National Schools system. The decades leading up to the Great Irish Famine were characterised by a wave of church building and the archive sheds light on this, including one bound volume dedicated solely to the major restoration undertaken at Armagh Cathedral, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, during the 1830s.
Work by the conservator will include surface cleaning, as well as repair and stabilisation of the papers. Afterwards, a volunteer will work with the Library’s archivist to repack the collection using conservation grade materials.
Completion of the conservation work will enable this significant archive to be made available to researchers. The images show the collection before conservation and are all courtesy of the Armagh Robinson Library.
