Archive Service

The Heritage and Museum Service of Derry City Council has responsibility for the preservation of the civic records of the Council and its predecessor, the Londonderry Corporation. The collection constitutes an extremely valuable source of information both for the history of the City and the Council. They provide a comprehensive record of significant socio-economic and political development within the City from the latter half of the seventeenth century to the present day.

The main group of Council records are minute books, letter-books and correspondence, legal documents, architectural drawings, maps and plans and a limited photographic collection. The Heritage and Museum Service also acquire and preserve private collections. This material ranges from entire business archives, literary collections, military items, railway and maritime collections and political documents. The archivist is also responsible for the growing artwork collection, which includes items by John Noah Gosset and Andrew Nicholl.

The Heritage and Museum Service actively pursues the acquisition of local private archives as a contribution towards our policy of preserving the heritage of the city.

Derry~Londonderry Genealogy Service

There are an estimated 70 million people worldwide claiming Irish ancestry. Family History ‘can deliver a real benefit to the Irish public and the Irish diaspora’ as ‘genealogy is history made personal – it connects people through their individual genetic past to the past of the communities they inhabit.’

To complement Derry City Council’s Archive Service, facilities at the Harbour Museum now include the Derry~Londonderry Genealogy Service.  The Heritage and Museum Service of Derry City Council have launched Derry~Londonderry Genealogy Service. A database of over one million records, dating from 1642 to 1922, was created, between 1982 and 2007 as a project of the Inner City Trust, from the major civil and church registers of the city and county of Derry~Londonderry and Inishowen, County Donegal. This database contains:

• Pre-1922 civil birth and marriage registers
• The early baptismal and marriage registers of 97 churches (38 Roman Catholic Church, 24 Church of Ireland and 35 Presbyterian)
• Headstone inscriptions from 118 graveyards
• Census returns and census substitutes from 1663 through to 1901

The purpose of all this work was quite simply to assist anyone, local people and visitors alike, research their family history. Family history as well as having an important tourism role has the potential to engage the interest of local people. The ancestors of the vast majority of Derry’s citizens are recorded in the database.

You can now access this database by searching, for free, the indexes to the Derry Genealogy Database online at www.rootsireland.ie and then purchasing, on a pay-per-view basis, any selected record.

You can also book a free 15 minutes consultation with the genealogist at the Harbour Museum, Derry: telephone 028 7137 7331; or email genealogy@derrycity.gov.uk. The Genealogist, Brian Mitchell, has been involved in local, family and emigration research in the wider Derry area since 1982. He is author of a number of Irish genealogy reference books such as A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland, A Guide to Irish Parish Registers and Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy. 

Download Genealogy Research Form

Please note all queries relating to the archive collections must continue to be directed to the Archivist, Bernadette Walsh, at the Harbour Museum, telephone 028 71377331 or email bernadette.walsh@derrycity.gov.uk

***Please note

Members of the public should always consult the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI 66 Balmoral Avenue, Belfast - www.proni.gov.uk for national records such as records from government departments, local authorities outside of Derry, the courts and non-departmental bodies such as library and health boards. PRONI also hold passenger lists and a selection of private collections relating to families, solicitors, estates etc.

Opening Hours

Contact

Bernadette Walsh
Archivist
Harbour Museum
Harbour Square
Derry BT48 6AF
Telephone: 028 71377331
Fax: 028 7137633
E-mail: bernadette.walsh@derrycity.gov.uk