Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a division within the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL).

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is distinguished from other archival institutions in the United Kingdom by its unique combination of private and official records. The Record Office is not the Northern Ireland equivalent or imitation of any Great Britain or Republic of Ireland archival institution.

It combines the functions and responsibilities of a range of institutions: it is at the same time Public Record Office, Manuscripts Department of a National Library, County Record Office for the six counties of Northern Ireland, and holder of a large range of private records. This range of remit, embracing, among others, central and local government, the Churches and the private sector, is unique to Northern Ireland.

PRONI was established by the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland), 1923. The new body opened in March 1924 on the fourth floor of a former linen warehouse in central Belfast (at Murray Street). The immediate challenge was to identify and preserve surrogates of records lost in Dublin during the Four Courts fire on June 1922. The first Deputy Keeper, Dr David A. Chart was able to replace many of these records by approaching solicitors, business people, politicians, churches and the landed aristocracy.

The success of Chart’s acquisition policy meant that PRONI needed more storage space. In April 1933, the office moved to a new central Belfast location, the first floor of the new Royal Courts of Justice in Chichester Street. However, it was not until 1965, that the Ministry of Finance would approve an actual new building. This new building, opened in 1972, at Balmoral Avenue was the first new record office to be built in the UK since the Public Record Office in London was erected in 1838.

Between 1924 and 1982 PRONI was part of the Ministry (later Department) of Finance. The functions were then transferred to the Department of the Environment (DOE), and in 1995, PRONI became an executive agency within the DOE. With the restoration of devolved government in 1999, PRONI became an agency within the new Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL). The department brought together for the first time overall responsibility for libraries, museums and archives. As part of the implementation of the Review of Public Administration, PRONI ceased to be an agency in 2006 and became a division within the core department.

PRONI currently holds 54 kilometres of shelf-filled records. In March 2011, PRONI reopened in new purpose built premises at 2 Titanic Boulevard, BT3 9HQ, in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast. The £29 million new Headquarters includes a public search room which is twice the size of the room at Balmoral Avenue, a reading room that seats 78 users - most of which have access to power for laptops, a wifi cafe, a full suite of brand new microfilm readers; a self service digital camera for digital copying, electronic information points, public art integrated into the fabric of the building; state of the art lecture theatre facilities, and dedicated exhibition space. The opening exhibition, A century of change, conflict and transformation, 1911-2011, is currently on display. The exhibition uses PRONI archives that touches upon major events and explores themes such as governance, leisure, economy and society. At the core is a display on the Blitz experience in Northern Ireland, including a replica Anderson Shelter. The exhibition also notes changes in the type of media used to record information over the years and how the digital age may affect how future generations access their ‘history’.

The PRONI website supports a number of online resources including the PRONI electronic catalogue; a searchable wills database which contains details of testamentary papers, 1858-1943; fully indexed Ulster Covenant of 1912; Northern Ireland street directories, 1819-1900; pre-1840 Freeholders Registers and Poll Books; and links to PRONI records on Flickr and to the Conflict Archive on the INternet (CAIN).

The new record office is located just one mile from the city centre in the burgeoning Titanic Quarter. In addition to the huge Odyssey entertainment complex, local amenities include Titanic Belfast (opening April 2012), the restoration of the Titanic and Olympic slipways, the restoration of the Nomadic - the tug boat which took travellers to the Titanic, Belfast Metropolitan College (opening September 2011), a film studio, a hotel and the Northern Ireland Science Park. It is accessible via bus, rail, road and is approximately five minutes away from George Best Belfast City Airport.

PRONI is open 9:00-16:45 Monday to Wednesday and Friday, and 10:00-20:45 on Thursday.

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• List of Government departments and agencies in Northern Ireland

External links

• Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

Coordinates: 54°33′58.57″N 5°57′32.28″W / 54.5662694°N 5.9589667°W / 54.5662694; -5.9589667