Photographs and Photography in Irish Local History

Liam Kelly

Historians have been slow to recognize photographs as important primary sources for research and it is only in recent years that photographs are being taken seriously as historical documents in their own right. This book gives a brief outline of the history of photography from the daguerreotype camera of early Victorian times to the digital camera. It traces the development of photography in Ireland, how the vast number of photographs have accumulated, where the best collections are held and how they may be accessed. It suggests ways in which photographs may be examined to see what information can be extracted from them.

Liam Kelly was born in Co. Leitrim. He is author of Kiltubrid (1984), The face of time, photographs of County Leitrim by Leland L. Duncan (1995), A flame now quenched: rebels and Frenchmen in Leitrim 1793–98 (1998), Kiltubrid, County Leitrim: snapshots of a rural parish in the 1890s (2005) and Churches of the diocese of Kilmore (2005).