Learning Resources

The Archives Service has also produced a Guide to the archival collections aimed at teachers and students. The Guide includes details of the major collections held by the County Archives as well as notes for teachers on how they might be utilized for the teaching of local history.

• Teachers Guide
• Treorai do Mhuinteoiri

Ireland is engaged in a decade long commemoration of what is generally known as the revolutionary period in recent Irish history, covering the years from approximately 1912 to 1923. Donegal County Archives' commemoration of these crucial events in our history includes a document study pack aimed at second level schools and people interested in this period of Irish history. This education pack consists of: (1) an illustrated booklet documenting the history of this period in Ireland and focusing on Donegal in particular; (2) high quality facsimiles of documents from Donegal County Archives and other collections, and transcriptions; (3) questions designed to assist students to examine evidence contained in the facsimiles, (4) brief biographies of the main national and local players in this period in history.

The booklet examines this critical period in our recent history both from a County Donegal and a national perspective. The pack includes an introduction to the major events in Ireland from 1870 – 1912 and then examines the period 1912 – 1923, focusing on specific themes, nationally and in Donegal: The Third Home Rule Bill; Resistance to Home Rule; World War One; The 1916 Rising; The War of Independence; Truce and Anglo-Irish Treaty; the Civil War and Aftermath and Legacy. 

The document study aspect of the pack features 18 high quality reproductions of archives (facsimiles). These documents relate to each of the key themes and provide varying perspectives on these major events as they happened in Donegal. Transcriptions of handwritten documents are included.

This study pack is ideal for teachers and students of history in both the junior and leaving certificates and includes a selection of (junior certificate) curriculum based exercises on the back of each document. The pack would also serve as a very useful introduction to the subject for undergraduates of modern Irish history. The pack is a resource for teachers and students that can be used throughout the decade of commemorations and beyond. The pack is available free of charge to teachers, schools and colleges.

Decade of Change pdfs: booklet and worksheets (facsimiles):

• Decade Of Change Booklet
• Decade of Change worksheets
• Decade Of Change Facsimiles 12 And 16

As part of the 2016 Easter Rising Centenary commemorations Donegal County Council's Archives, Library, Museum and Heritage Office produced an education pack, a 64 page illustrated booklet giving an overview of the history of the county of Donegal in that year, and 19 facsimiles of archives and photographs with questions and exercises for students.  Please find below the education pack divided into three pdfs, also the facsimiles in three pdfs. Copyright remains with Donegal County Council, and all other owners of images contained in the pack; and they cannot be reproduced without prior permission. The pack can be printed off and used for schools or for private research. (The pack is also fully translated into Irish, see Irish version of our website.)

• 1916 Education Study Pack - 1  
• 1916 Education Study Pack - 2
• 1916 Education Study Pack - 3
• 1916 Facsimiles English - 1
• 1916 Facsimiles English - 2
• 1916 Facsimiles English - 3

The Primary Schools Facsimile Pack (2006 project) was an innovative primary school history curriculum project supported by the Heritage Council and the Donegal Education Centre.

The aim of this project was to increase awareness of local archives and local history by introducing archival material to children at a young age, in a manner that causes no threat to the preservation of the documents.

The packs are potentially a very versatile teaching aid for use in history, geography, civics or social studies classes and are easily manipulated in the classroom.

Archival material demonstrates the nature of evidence, introducing the concept of primary and secondary sources and can also help develop a broad range of investigative and interpretive skills in students.

Documents in the pack are arranged under topics taken straight from the primary school curriculum and include: Homes and My Locality, Schools and Life in the Nineteenth Century.

There are packs for four different regions in the county of Donegal, with accompanying facsimiles of documents from the Archives relating to the regions. Documents include past and present day photographs of towns, railway notices and photographs of trains and other means of transport, plans of labourers’ cottages, school records, extracts from workhouse registers, and fisheries’ posters. 

PDFS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS FACSIMILE ARCHIVES PACK

• Introduction
• Primary pack- Schools section
• Primary Schools pack Homes
• Primary Schools pack Farming
• Primary schools pack- 19th Century
• Primary Schools pack Transport
• Primary Schools pack Glossary

To mark the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls, with the financial support of the International Fund for Ireland, the Archives Service has produced a Document Study Pack for second level schools in Counties Donegal, Tyrone and Derry. The pack contains a selection of facsimiles of 16th and 17th century documents covering the events leading up to the Flight of the Earls of Tyrone and Tír Chonaill and the subsequent Plantation of Ulster. It also contains an introductory background to the history of the Flight, as well as worksheets. This pack was researched and written by Ciara Joyce for Donegal County Archives.

Copies of the pack are available on request to schools throughout the country.

• Flight of the Earls Education Pack

 * Note: the Flight of the Earls' Pack facsimiles are available on request from archivist@donegalcoco.ie

The Ulster Plantation pack, produced to mark the 400th anniversary of the Plantation in Ulster, is aimed primarily at second level schools, and provides an introduction to this crucial period in Irish history, including the major events surrounding the Plantation up to the arrival of Oliver Cromwell in Ireland in 1649. It includes a background to the official scheme for plantation, the divisions of land, the newcomers to Ulster and also the subsequent rebellion in Ulster in 1641.

The pack uses facsimiles of original documents from the period to outline these historic events in Irish history, which students are asked to examine and answer a selection of questions on. This not only demonstrates the value of archival documents it also helps to develop essential research and analytical skills in students.

Documents in this pack include, letters, proclamations, maps and illustrations, provided by leading archives and libraries in Ireland and the UK, including Trinity College Dublin and Lambeth Palace Library, London.

The pack has been distributed to school in Counties Donegal and Derry and schools and colleges as well as individuals can still received copies on request.

• Ulster Plantation pack
• Ulster Plantation pack facsimiles 1
• Ulster Plantation pack facsimiles 2