Local Authority Collections

• 89 volumes of minutes and rough minutes of the meetings of the Board of Guardians of Ballyshannon Union, 1840 –1922;
• 2 Indoor Relief Registers. Details include the date each person was admitted to or born in the workhouse, date discharged or died, name, address, age, state of health, occupation, 1906 – 1915;
• 3 Indoor Admission and Discharge Registers, 1914 – 1918;
• 46 Abstracts of accounts and other financial records, including a general ledger; account books, financial statements and receipt books for the Union, 1843 – 1921;
• Separate Register of Persons admitted to and discharged from the Fever Hospital or Infirmary of the Workhouse, including members of the Royal Irish Constabulary Force and soldiers from Finner Camp, 1908 - 1924;
• Abstracts showing the number and classification of paupers relieved, dating from 1844 – 1873; 
  Medical records, including Medical Return Books and Diet Sick books, 1913 – 1921;
• Photographs of Ballyshannon Workhouse;
• Combined workhouse record and statistical register relating to Ballyshannon area, 1923 – 1924. 

• None of the 19th century records of Donegal Union have survived.

• Only 14 volumes of the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Guardians of Donegal Union survive, 1914 – 1923;

• 4 Indoor Admission and Discharge Registers, 1914 – 1921; 
  Indoor Relief Register, 1918 – 1924;

• Special Diet and Stimulant Register, 1919 – 1920. 

• 66 volumes of minutes and rough minutes of the meetings of the Board of Guardians of Dunfanaghy Union, 1841 – 1922 (12 volumes are missing);

• Medical Officers’ Report Book, 1870 – 1899;

• Indoor Relief Register, 1891 – 1915;

• Attendance Register of Guardians, 1902 – 1925;

• Treasurers’ Receipt and Payment Book, 1910 – 1922;

• Labourers’ Acts Minute Book, 1883 – 1885;

• Letter Book, 1904 – 1933;

• Small file of correspondence, 1914 – 1915. 

• 72 volumes of minutes of the meetings of the Board of Guardians of Glenties Union, 1841 – 1922;

• 2 Registers of persons admitted to and discharged from the workhouse, 1851 – 1866; 1884 – 1895;

• Separate Register of Persons admitted to and discharged from the Fever Hospital, 1913 – 1922;

• 2 Indoor Relief Registers, 1899 – 1907; 1914 – 1921;

• Treasurers’ Pass Book, 1912 - 1921;

• Items of correspondence relating to various issues, c.1880 – 1919. 

• 92 volumes of minutes and rough minutes of the meetings of the Board of Guardians of Letterkenny Union, 1841 – 1923;

• Volume containing minutes of the meetings of the Letterkenny Relief Committee for March - August 1847; and also, rough minutes of the proceedings of the Letterkenny Board of Guardians from 2 Jan 1857 - 6 August 1858;

• Register of Letterkenny dispensary, Letterkenny Union, 1843 – 1858;

• Guardians’ Treasure Book: Belfast Banking Company's Branch, Letterkenny, in account with the Poor Law Union of Letterkenny, 1917 – 1923;

• Register of persons admitted to and discharged from Letterkenny workhouse (daily register finishes in October 1864 but the last page has approximately one entry per year from 1869 - 1899.) 1855 – 1864; 1869 – 1899;

• Register of persons admitted to and discharged from Letterkenny workhouse, 1864 – 1878;

• Indoor Relief Register, 1910 – 1915;

• Record of Deaths, 1910 – 1922;

• Letterkenny Estimate and Demand book from the Union to the County Council, with three tables for each year, 1899 – 1905;

• Other notices, petitions, agenda and correspondence, c. 1841 – 1923. 

• 93 volumes of the minutes and rough minutes of the meetings of the Board of Guardians of Milford Union, 1841 – 1923; 
• Report and General Observations of Visiting Committee to Milford workhouse, 1846 - 1912; 
• 2 Registers of persons admitted to and discharged from the workhouse, 1855 –1874, 1881-1897; 
• 2 Outdoor Relief Registers, 1847 – 1899; 1899 – 1917; 
• Record of Sickness and Mortality, including name of patient, age, disease, treatment, event, e.g., 'died', 'relieved', 'cured', 1853 – 1893; 
• Record of Deaths, 1899 – 1917; 
• Register of Mortgages, 1880 – 1932. 
• Punishment Register, detailing name of adult/child concerned, offence, date of offence, opinion and/or punishment ordered by Guardians, date of punishment, 1879 – 1893; 
• 2 Treasurers’ Registers, 1869 – 1879, 1918 – 1923; 
• Indoor Relief Register, 1919 – 1922. 

• 52 volumes of the minutes and rough minutes of the meetings of the Board of Guardians of Stranorlar Union (8 missing), 1845 – 1921;

• Letter Book (copies of letters sent), 1886 – 1921;

• 2 Dispensary (Killygordan and Stranorlar) minute books, 1852 –1899;

• Notices, correspondence, accounts, petitions and lists relating to the affairs of Stranorlar Union, c. 1840 – 1921. 

• Reports of The Poor Law Commissioners: 1842 – 1872;
• Reports of the Local Government Board: 1873 - 1904.
• Annual reports of the poor law commissioners, replaced in 1873 by the Local Government Board, for administering the laws for relief of the poor in Ireland. Gives statistics for Ireland including returns of persons relieved in unions, numbers in workhouse infirmaries, orphan or deserted children, people in receipt of indoor and outdoor relief, annual admissions to the workhouse, proceedings under the Medical Charities Act with reference to the dispensary districts. Also includes official orders and circulars relevant to the Poor Law Union.
• Letters of the Local Government Board: Letters addressed to Donegal County Council, on related matters including officers’ salaries; issues regarding rate, including rate collectors, arrears of rate; valuation; liaison with Rural District Councils on matters such as roads; waterworks; infirmaries ran by Council. 1899.
• Sealed Orders of the Local Government Board. Includes Orders in Council, 22 December 1898, making rules under 1898 Local Government (Ireland) Act, General Order, County and Rural District Councillors (1899), Certificate as to Poor Rate and County Cess (1899), General Orders for Auditing RDC Accounts (1899), General Order regulating communication between County Councils and District Councils and Boards of Guardians (1899), Certificate of Road Expenditure and other regulations regarding upkeep of Roads (1899), Public Health Orders (1899), Sanitary Orders (1900), general administration (1899 - 1902), tuberculosis prevention (1909), finance (1920). 

• 78 volumes of the minutes of meetings of the Council, 1899 – 1975. Some of the minutes of the Council are missing, including the revolutionary period from February 1916 to December 1923;
• Minutes of meetings and reports of the Council’s various Committees, including the Finance Committee, Diseases of Animals Committee, Insurance Committee, School Attendance Committee, Scholarship Committee, Engineering Committee, Heavy Lorries Traffic Committee, General Purpose Committee, Fishing Committee, Housing Committee, and Sheep Dipping Committee; plus Piers and Air raid Precautions Committees (during the Second World War/Emergency period); and general committee meetings. It should be noted that there are not complete sets of minutes for each committee. 1900 – 1985;
• County Manager’s Orders, 1949 – 1987. The County Management Act, 1940, created the position of the county manager. The County Manager creates orders on Council matters under this Act;
• Electoral material, including Registers of Electors from the county for each electoral district and summaries of registers, 1920 – 1980’s (incomplete); 

• Information on elections, including notices of elections, correspondence, schemes of polling districts and polling places, directions for the guidance of voters, notices of polling stations, and publication of electors' and jurors' lists 1920's -1980's; 
• Local and general elections campaigning material, including flyers, posters, leaflets, dating generally from the 1970’s, late 1990’s and early twenty-first century; 
• 1926 County Council file: File of correspondence relating to the Council's activities mostly during the second half of the year 1926. Includes draft resolutions, correspondence relating to resolutions, roads, salaries, personnel, finance, housing, motor tax, legal issues. 

• Finance material including abstracts of accounts, secretary’s statements, estimates of expenses, and general ledgers, 1914 - 1967 (not complete). 

• Motor Tax Registers, 1903 - 1923, 1951 – 1992;
• Registers of Annual Licences for Road Vehicles, 1970; 1974 – 1975;
• Correspondence (16 Letters), c. 1912 – 1940. 

• Workers’ Records Insurance Cards, 1928 – 1974; 
• Staff Attendance Registers, 1900– 1912; 1935 – 1936. 

*Note: most Donegal County Council personnel records are still held by Human Resources and are confidential.  

• Labourers’ Cottages records include: 400 files/items including plans, statutory declarations that landowners had been in receipt of rents and profits of lands; abstracts of title; specifications for the erection of cottages; designs and plans of cottages, including model plans and specific plans; reports of committees appointed to select plots; conveyances; assignments and other legal deeds; correspondence between the Councils and labourers and landowners and between the Councils and the Local Government Board; architects’ reports; copies of land certificates, wills and probates; orders and notices, registers and books of reference to maps of land, correspondence, reports etc, 1890 – 1940. 

• Register of Dairymen. Details include name and address of dairyman; address of premises; vehicles deemed to be premises; buildings on the premises - cowshed, milk store, milk shop etc; whether milk is bottled; acreage of land in acres, roods and perches; number and nature of animals to be kept, observations; 31 March 1937 - 30 June 1994. 

• County Library archives, including reports and minutes of meetings such as the Donegal County Library Committee, the Book Selection Committee, cash receipt books, accession registers, attendance registers, manager’s orders about the Library Service, expenditure register, statistics register, plans and maps of libraries, 1928 – 1987. 

• Planning: applications made under the 1934 Town and Regional Planning Act, the 1963 Local Government (Planning and Development) Act and later legislation. There are also Development Plans. 1934 – 1968. 
   
  Note: Planning applications are held off site. Files must be ordered a week in advance. There is a charge for a copy of a planning decision and a charge for any copies of plans made. 

• 200 property transactions such as leases, agreements, conveyances, deed polls, and assignments, generally between the County Council and various individuals and bodies, including railway companies, the ESB, the Boards of Guardians, landowners, RDC’s and UDC’s, mainly in relation to the acquisition of land for Council purposes- e.g., building of roads, housing, libraries, electrification, hospitals, courthouses, quarries, water supply, fire stations etc. There are also deeds relating to the disposal of land by the Council- e.g., leasing of land to individuals or organisations for a variety of reasons. Other parties in some of the legal agreements include the Commissioners for Public Works and the Land Commission.

• 42 Legal deeds relating to harbours and piers, mainly agreements between the County Council and various organisations, including Harbour Commissioners, and individuals, on matters such as leasing part of land, or erecting a structure on harbour land. Also includes a number of harbour masters’ sureties.

• 30 legal deeds of agreement and bond between the County Council and employees, mainly in relation to employment pay and conditions, 1905 - 1950. (Access may be restricted to some of these documents for reasons of confidentiality.) 
   
  Note: The majority of the Donegal County Council records which have been listed and transferred to the Archives are open to the public. 

• Four volumes of the minutes of the meetings of the Commissioners, 1896 – 1963. The minutes refer to the day to day management of the Town by the Commission.
• Register of Mortgages for Ballyshannon Town Commission. Details include date of deed; parties are BTC and Commissioners of Public Works; purpose for which mortgage was given erection of houses for working classes under Working Classes Act 1890; amount secured by mortgage; dates when instalments received; amount of each instalment received; mode of repayment; observations; 1900 – 1938.
• Two General Rentals of Artisans' Dwellings of Ballyshannon Town Commissioners. The areas included are Erne Street, Falcarragh Park and Cluain Bairrfinn, 1932 – 1953, 1954 - 1965. (Availability subject to confidentiality policy. 

• 19 volumes of minutes and quarterly minutes of the meetings of the RDC, 1899 – 1925; 
• Minutes of School Attendance Committee, 1918 – 1925; 
• School Attendance Committee Cash Book, 1918 – 1925; 
• Register of Applications made to the District Council, of proposed contracts, 1905. 

• 11 volumes of the minutes of the meetings of the RDC, 1914 – 1925. 

• 18 volumes of minutes of the meetings and Labourers’ Acts meetings of the RDC, 1899 – 1925;

• 13 folders of correspondence, internally within the RDC and externally, with other organisations, 1909 – 1918; 

• 14 volumes of the minutes and half yearly minutes of the RDC, 1899 – 1925;

• Register of Mortgages, 1908 – 1914. 

• 13 volumes of minutes of meetings of the RDC, 1899 – 1925; 
  Record of reports by sanitary officers of houses and farms, giving number, date, from whom report received, name of owner or occupier where nuisance exists, nature of nuisance, 1911 – 1932;

• Book of Estimates of the Inishowen RDC, 1899 – 1910;

• Treasurer's Receipt and Payment Book from Inishowen RDC, 1923 – 1925;

• Material relating to water supply in Carndonagh and surrounding area, Inishowen Union, 1899 – 1930. 

• 18 volumes of minutes and quarterly minutes of the RDC, 1899 – 1925; 
• Minutes of the meetings of the National Benefit Committee, organising outdoor relief, 1922 – 1923; 
• Register of Mortgages, 1902 – 1946; 
• RDC Labourers' Payments of rents book, 1929 – 1962; 
• Material relating to Lough Salt Water Supply Scheme, 1908. 

• 2 volumes of minutes of meetings of the RDC, 1899 – 1921 (amalgamated with Letterkenny RDC in 1921);

• Notice of Appointment of Arbitrator and Date of Inquiry in the matter of the "Londonderry No.2 Rural District Labourers (Unopposed) Order, 1908". 

• 26 volumes of minutes of meetings and quarterly meetings of the RDC, 1899 – 1925;

• Reports from Various Electoral Divisions in Milford Rural District in relation to the building of labourers’ cottages.

• 15 volumes of minutes of meetings of the RDC, 1899 – 1922; 
• Loans Expenditure Book Labourers Act. Details include name of person to whom payment is made; particulars of payment, details of contract, 1904 – 1917; 
• Lifford Lighting/Water & Sewerage Committee. The Committee was a sub-committee of Strabane No. 2 Rural District Council, and its main duty was the lighting of the town of Lifford and waterworks and sewerage in the town. Records include minutes of meetings, list of members of the committee, a poster and correspondence, 1911 – 1924. 

• Stranorlar: 8 volumes of minutes and rough minutes of meetings of the RDC, 1899 – 1925; 
• Annual Estimate of Rural District Council, 1907 – 1920; 
• Correspondence, 1920 - 1921. 

• Exemplifications: accounts of rural districts, printed volume outlining the methods approved by the Auditor, Local Government Board, Ireland, of maintaining the accounts of the RDCs, 1899; 
• Treasurer's Receipt and Payment Book, 1903 – 1920. 

• Small number of documents relating to the board, including abstracts of accounts, notice seeking tenders for lavatory, 1930, schedule of tolls, dues, licences and wharfage charges under the Buncrana Harbour Order, 1930 – 1963. 
• (Other documents relating to the board can be found in Buncrana Urban District Council archives.) 

• 26 volumes of minutes of the meetings of Council, relating to all matters concerning the management of the district, 1899 – 1995; 
• 27 volumes of Manager’s Orders, 1942 – 1991 (2 missing.); 
• 33 Rate books of the UDC, 1955 – 1991; 
• 13 Financial Statement Books for Expenditure, 1950 – 1981; 
• 9 Volumes containing lists of receipts issued by the Council, 1927 – 1981; 
• Other financial registers, including capital receipts ledger; 
• Artisans’ Dwellings, registers of rent collection, 1958 - 1993 (restricted access); 
• Other material relating to the UDC, including sanitary services and water charges. 

Bundoran Urban District Council Bye-Law 

• 17 volumes of minutes of meetings of the Council, c.1914– 1963;

• 4 volumes of Managers’ Orders, 1958 – 1971;

• 38 Abstracts of Accounts, 1916 – 1974; 
  

• Clerks’ Statements, 1916 – 1936; 
  

• Estimates of Expenses, 1945 – 1977; 
  

• Rentals of Artisan’s Dwellings, 1916 – 1984; 
  

• Registers of Attendances of Councillors, 1915 – 1985; 
  

• Other records relating to water and sewerage schemes and environmental and other matters. 

• One volume of the minutes of meetings of Buncrana Town Commissioners, 1913 – 1914;

• 18 volumes of the minutes of the meetings of Buncrana District Council, c.1930 – 1970;

• Managers’ Orders, 1947 – 1995;

• Legal Deeds: 65 copies or original assignments, wills, agreements, conveyances, letters of administration, mortgages, releases, orders in High Court, searches, declarations and bonds, relating to the town of Buncrana, some with the Buncrana Urban District Council, Some deeds are copies dating back to decades before Buncrana Town Commissioners came into existence; 1812 – 1978;

• Agendas, notices of meetings, and resolutions of the Town Commissioners and the Urban District Council, 1914 - 1983; 

• 29 Estimates of Expenses, 1914 – 1969 (some gaps); 
• 77 Abstracts of Accounts, 1915 – 1996; 
• Planning Application files, 1947 – 1973; 
• Rate books, rate files and valuations, 1913 – 1c.1970.