Archives

The College Archives house a collection of documents, maps and photographs dating back to the founding of the College.

The collection is kept in a purpose-built archive located at the rear of the Creative Arts & Digital Learning Centre, the old Student Library. Unfortunately, a huge amount of archival material was lost in a fire in the College in 1984, including some 10,000 photographs.

Material includes pupil and staff records as well as documents relating to the College Community and property. We also have records of the Past Pupils’ Union and of College societies, students’ publications, news cuttings, prize lists, menus and programmes. Correspondence files contain letters from past students detailing their lives in many parts of the world. Our photographs go back to the 1860s, providing an invaluable insight into the early life of the College.

We have a full set of College annuals, with the first edition from 1930, and we also  hold cine films and audiotapes (now digitised) of College events, recordings of concerts and sports events and copies of relevant television and radio programmes.

The efforts of the College Archivists, the late Fr. Seán Farragher CSSp. and Ms. Caroline Mullan have been instrumental in compiling and maintaining such a wonderful resource and we are grateful to all those who, over 150 years, have helped us save this wide and varied record of the history of Blackrock College.