Established in 1702, the State Paper Office served as a repository for records relating to the administrations of the Lord Lieutenant, who represented the English monarch in Ireland. Previously, Lord Lieutenants would take all of their records with them when they left office. The State Paper Office was located in Dublin Castle until 1990.
Following the establishment of the modern Irish state in 1922, the Public Record Office and the State Paper Office continued to operate until the enactment of the National Archives Act of 1986. This act transferred their responsibilities and collections to the newly established National Archives.
The Public Record Office of Ireland
The Public Record Office of Ireland was established under the Public Records (Ireland) Act, 1867 to acquire administrative, court and probate records over twenty years old.
The Public Record Office building in the Four Courts was seized in June 1922 during the Irish Civil War. The repository building was destroyed by fire along with most of the records, some dating as far back as the 13th century.
Guide to records deposited in the Public Record Office of Ireland
In 1919, Herbert Wood, Assistant Deputy Keeper of Public Records, published a comprehensive guide to records deposited in the Public Record Office of Ireland (PROI). This Guide plays a central role for academic researchers in not only establishing what records existed prior to the destruction of the PROI during the Civil War in 1922, but also what records survived.
The Guide has been digitised and can be downloaded here:
Bishop Street site
In 1989, the Government assigned a site at Bishop Street in Dublin to the National Archives. The premises of the former State Paper Office in the Record Tower at Dublin Castle were vacated in 1991. The headquarters of the National Archives moved from the Four Courts to Bishop Street in 1992.
The building stands on the site of the former Jacob’s biscuit factory, a significant Dublin institution from the 1850s until it was destroyed by fire in 1987. It was occupied by a republican garrison under Commandant Thomas MacDonagh during the Easter Rising of 1916. The garrison also included Peadar Kearney, who wrote the words of Ireland’s national anthem, ‘The Soldiers Song’.