Researching and Writing Local History

Course Outline
Week 1: This introductory session will essentially be about familiarisation of the course content. This session will use storytelling to introduce participants to the idea of tradition in local historical studies. It will seek to build their confidence to engage in the processes of research and writing.
Week 2: Using a series of historical objects the group will begin to work together to share the stories of these and other stimuli with the other members of the group. They will identify objects, sites and personalities in their own locality that may be use for a short research project
Week 3: Participants will be introduced to the techniques used in reading historical documents and will learn about placing their own local history which will be placed in a national or wider perspective.
Week 4: The participants will be introduced to basic architectural heritage and will be shown some of the key methods of reading an old building. They will learn how clues from the built heritage might be interpreted in a local study and begin a short local history study by themselves.
Week 5: The participants will be introduced to a range of historical documents from their own locality and given help to read and assess their importance. They will learn about the range or archival sources that may be examined by the local student.
Week 6: Undertaking a local study: The participants will be given a practical outline of how to approach a local study. Study sources will be identified, explained and a blueprint for study layout described.
Week 7: Participants will be guided through the process of developing local and family history linkages. They will be shown the main methods of tracing Irish ancestry with particular reference to local families. The importance of these skills in developing cultural tourism will also be outlined.
Week 8: The final session will consist of an overview of all of the work done to date with guidance offered as to how the group, as a whole or individually, might take their newly acquired skills forward and invest these in the development of the local area.
Week 9: The group will take part in a three hour long managed visit to an archive, where they will learn how to obtain reader’s tickets and be guided through the processes involved in searching for and ordering documents.

To register your interest please contact Cavan-Monaghan LEADER on 049 4338477 or email support@cmleader.ie by Friday 3rd February 2012.