Digitisation of the College magazines

An exciting and unique project in the College's history is reaching its final stage, and on Thursday 16th June this was marked by an event  attended by members of the College community (including staff, Fellows, Old Columbans and parents) as well as first-time visitors.

Over the last three years, Patrick Hugh Lynch of the Department of the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, assisted by the Sub-Warden, Julian Girdham, has been digitising both the school magazines and the Old Columban Society publications. An extraordinary resource is being created for future generations and historians, and the end of the school year was a good time to take stock.

Following a reception in Whitehall, the Sub-Warden gave a presentation on the origins and progress of the project. About 7000 pages and 4.5 million words have been saved for posterity. In some cases there was a single perishable copy of magazines, and now there is a treasure-trove of material saved permanently. He picked out some editions of particular historical interest, including the very first edition in September 1879 (produced on a Prestograph), the innocent last edition before the Great War, and the first edition following the Easter 1916 Rising (called 'this deplorable insurrection' in the editorial).

He said that the project was still not complete; some checking needs to be done, but when this is complete the archive will be available electronically on disc form and in due course online, and will be a fitting way to mark the 175th anniversary of the College in 2018. A sample CD of about 40 editions was given to those who attended.

The former editor of The Columban, and current editor of the OCS Bulletin, Ninian Falkiner (former Head of History) then spoke about his own experience of working on both magazines, and ended by saying that the true 'hero' of the evening was Patrick Lynch, in the work he has done for the College community.

In his own words, Patrick Lynch spoke powerfully about the 'fun' he has had on the project. The Warden as he retires has left 'its vast cultural history in a position where it can be interrogated by future scholars'. Read Patrick's full address here.

Finally, the Warden paid tribute to the extraordinary work Patrick Lynch has done in this 'utterly captivating' fashion. He looked forward to being able to peruse the archive at leisure in his retirement, and ended by presenting a gift to mark the occasion.





See a set of photographs of the reception and talks here. Many thanks to the Chaplain for taking this.
A report from the Diocesan website can be read here.