‘Buried in Belfast’ Community Engagement Programme Kicks Off

Buried in Belfast, the second community engagement programme in the Women in the Archives strand, has launched after a successful introductory week at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).

The programme offers the 35 participants an introduction to women’s history by exploring Belfast City Cemetery and Milltown Cemetery. Over the course of seven weeks, participants will use the cemeteries, library collections and public records/archives as a stimulus to engage with challenging aspects of our past.

They will take a guided women’s tour of both cemeteries, go behind the scenes at the Linen Hall Library and PRONI, and conduct research into key female-led stories in both cemeteries. Participants will then take part in some creative workshops to create trail maps around women buried in both cemeteries. These will be available online and in print.

In the first week, participants heard from Tom Hartley about his methods for approaching research at Belfast City Cemetery and Milltown Cemetery. They also heard from Alistair Charles of Belfast City Council about plans to re-develop the City Cemetery.

Both groups are now suitably inspired for a visit to the cemeteries this week and to begin the exciting work of devising a women's history trail of these two important burial sites.

The Buried in Belfast programme is led by the Linen Hall Library and PRONI and will run until mid-March 2019.

For more information on upcoming programmes around the Women in the Archives strand, contact Jason or Laura on the details below.