BY HELEN RIDDELL
BERE Island and Kilmurry Independence Museum were among a select few community groups to launch their community heritage archive website recently.
The groups from Cork county which were selected to be members of the Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN) launched their community archive websites at an event held at County Hall recently, in the presence of county mayor Cllr Frank O’Flynn.
The mayor credited all the groups in attendance for their work in preserving their local heritage. ‘The work you are all doing is vital in protecting our heritage for future generations,’ he said.
The four Cork groups picked from over 2,000 applicants to be part of the county’s iCAN programme were Bere Island Projects Group, the Independence Museum Kilmurry, Kilshannig Heritage Society and Youghal Community Archives.
The Irish Community Archive Network was established by the National Museum of Ireland in 2008 to encourage and support communities to collect and share their heritage online.
Working in partnership with local authorities, to date, iCAN has supported the creation of 28 online archives in Clare, Cork, Galway, Mayo and Wicklow, with eight more in development.
Earlier this year The Heritage Council pledged their support of the programme.
Speaking at the event, Lorna Elms iCAN development officer for the National Museum of Ireland, referred to iCAN’s mission statement which is to encourage and support communities in collecting, and preserving and making accessible their local history.
‘This official launch of our Cork Heritage programme is the portal into a number of community archives developed by local community groups to showcase their local heritage, and it is a unique rich tapestry of all kinds of heritage, natural, built and intangible and cultural,’ Ms Elms said.
‘What is unique about iCAN is that we are all working together to protect our heritage, the National Museum of Ireland, The Heritage Council and Cork County Council, and our local communities and we are stronger together.’
The Cork community archives can be accessed at www.heritagecork.org
