An Cosantóir

Orla Vox Pox | 13 Linda Jane Byrne and artefacts that we have here in the museum and in storage." Colin Campbell and Ela Dillane are working on the printed documents and artefacts in the museum. These include technical and maintenance log books, pilots' log books, diaries, manuals, letters, official and personal documents, and museum pieces. For preservation purposes most of the printed documents will be sent to Military Archives in Cathal Brugha Bks. Linda Jane Byrne and Orla McCartney are working on the photographic archives in Photographic Section. In addition to their Air Corps tasks photographers from Photographic Section are routinely assigned to take photographs at events that happen throughout the Defence Forces. Therefore, the images Linda and Orla are working through range from maritime patrols to exercises, ceremonies and a wide range of other Defence Forces events. "At the end of the process our aim is that all documents and material will be clearly archived and a proper records management system will be in place," Armn Whelan told us. "If someone is researching for a project we will be able to type in what they are looking for and the system will tell us exactly where that document, artefact or photograph is located." Thanks to the work of the JobBridge team the Air Corps now have logbooks and records of aircraft from the Bristol fighter all the way up to the Supermarine Seafire. One outstanding record, dating back to the founding of the state, is the logbook of the Martinsyde Type A Mk II, codenamed 'the Big Fella', which was purchased by the provisional government to rescue Michael Collins in London if the Treaty talks went bad. I have a bachelor's degree in history from Trinity College. Before coming here I did a FÁS archival project with the Christian Brothers, which was very interesting. In the Brother Allen Library they have loads of material relating to the Fenians, the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence, and the Civil War, as the Christian Brothers were a recruitment ground for the republican movement. Afterwards many of the volunteers gave in their personal records to Brother Allen. I've also been volunteering in the National Archives for the past two years helping Dr Brian Trainer put together a list of 40,000 wills from 1811-57. That's a massive project. We are cataloguing all the material in Photographic Section. Our fist job is to rehouse photographs in acid-free folders as they are not stored correctly. Then we are going to give them new numbers and add them into a database. We are also scanning glass-plate negatives, of which some 600 have survived. We can't touch the vertical film as they need conservation work: if we opened them up they would fall apart. The amount of images we are finding is unreal. With the 90th anniversary of the handover of barracks we are getting a lot of enquiries for relevant photos. Once the database is complete we will immediately be able to say "Yes, that's there," or "No, we don't have that," rather than having to go trawling through boxes. Orla McCartney I did biblical and theological studies in Trinity, and I have a master's degree in archival studies from UCD. I worked for a number of years with Eneclann, an archival and records management consultancy. Through them I did some work for the Heritage Council in Kilkenny, and the Irish Church Missions. I then worked for Diageo who have quiet an extensive archives in Scotland. That was my first big job getting into the nitty-gritty of archival records. I then went onto do disaster recovery for the Rathmines College for Further Education, setting up an archival and records management database for them after they had experienced some bad flooding. Photographic Section is fascinating and we are starting to get used to the different aircraft at last. I love it. You can look at a document but there is something magical about looking at an old image: a snapshot in time. It's an amazing resource for the Air Corps and the nation. Our main priority is the long term preservation of the material. The next step is to get people to understand that today's material is as historically important as older material, so we have to teach the staff to archive things as they are going along. It's no good having all the material if you can't access it. (Orla has now got a full-time job with Irish Genealogy and History Research Services. She won't be travelling too far, however, as her first project is with the Pensions Board in Cathal Brugha Bks.) Colin Campbell I did a bachelor's degree in history in UCD and a master's degree in defence studies in Kings College London. I then served as an officer with the Royal Irish Regiment. On leaving the British Army I retrained as a commercial pilot. So this internship for me combined my historical, military and aviation backgrounds. The first stage is taking all the log books and documents that have been acquired by the Air Corps, correlating them, putting them onto a database, and then carrying out any repairs needed before submitting them to Military Archives. In stage two we are going to move on to the museum itself where we will catalogue all the items and artefacts. These range from very rare airframes, such as the Avro Cadet, to the more recent Fouga Magister. Then there are engines, parts, maintenance equipment, weapons, and personal memorabilia that have been, and are still being, handed in. Captain Mick Liddy, for example, recently handed in a set of goggles and other memorabilia from his grandfather, Comdt James Liddy, who died on active service. It's an extremely invaluable experience to be involved on this project. The subject matter is unique and the range of skills we are being called upon to use is extensive. So we are really enjoying the work. Ela Dillane I am originally from Podlaskie in East Poland and I have an MA in archiving/library studies from Nicholas Copernicus University in Torun. Prior to working here I was on the team that established the archive for the Irish Scout Centre, Mount Mellory. This was a major collection that I catalogued between 2007 and 2009. Since beginning work with the rest of the team on the Irish Air Corps Museum and Heritage Project in March last year, I have been cataloguing logbooks, manuals, and other manuscript material, and setting up a major database for historical Irish military aviation artefacts. I am happy working here because it's nice to help preserve and save heritage. It's a great environment to work in. www.military.ie the defence forces magazine

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