Military Archives - Collections
The Military Archives holds a significant volume of material that constitutes an extremely important part of the record for Ireland’s history in the 20th century. Please note that different collections may be withdrawn from time to time to facilitate archival processing and to ensure preservation. Major collections include:
- The Bureau of Military History Collection, 1913-1921
- The Collins Collection (disparate records relating to the restructuring and reorganisation of the I.R.A, 1919-1922)
- Evacuation and truce liaison records
- Maps, plans and drawings Collection (detailing most of the military barracks and posts handed over to the Free State in 1922)
- Civil War Operations/Intelligence Reports & Prisoners Collection (of the National Army)
- Railway Protection Corps Collection (Civil War)
- Army census for every barracks and post in the Free State on 12th/13th November 1922
- Personal files for officers and enlisted personnel since 1922 (available to next of kin only subject to data protection requirements; some records have not survived)
- Department of Defence ‘A/’ files from 1922
- Army Crisis Collection, 1924
- Army Organisation Board Collection, 1926 and Military Mission Collection (to U.S. Army), 1926
- Temporary Plans Division Collection, 1928
- Minutes of GHQ Staff Conferences Collection, 1925-39
- Department of Defence ‘2/’ files, 1925 to 1947
- National Emergency files 1939-46: Director of Intelligence; Director of Operations; Construction Corps; Air Raid Precautions; Controller of Censorship; Emergency Defence Plans, Defence Forces Annual Reports; Crashes and forced landings of belligerent aircraft; captured U-boat records; internment camp records
- Department of Defence ‘3/’ files, 1947 to 1961
- Records specific to Naval Service and Air Corps
- United Nations Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement Forces from 1958
In addition, we have in excess of 1,000 private collections. For information about donating to Military Archives, please see our FAQ’s.
What we don’t have…
Many researchers confuse the Military Archives as a place of deposit for the records of all Irish people who have served in other armed forces. In fact, the Military Archives holds only the personnel records of those who served in the military of the Irish Free State from 1922, as well as material pertaining to the Irish Volunteers and the Independence movement, 1913-1921. Information about British Army records, including those for the Irish regiments, can be obtained at The National Archives of England, at Kew in London