An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir July / August 2025 www.military.ie/magazine 20 | www.military MILITARY ARCHIVES AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY DIGITISATION AND CONSERVATION PROJECT AFTER THE DECADE OF CENTENARIES Y ou could say that, in one way, the Military Archives was a victim of its own success during the Decade of Centenaries, becoming synonymous as the custodians of records chronicling the fight for Irish freedom, at the expense of public awareness of our wider collections and statutory remit. This is understandable, given the fact that the Military Archives holds the most significant collections of archival material covering the revolutionary years 1913-1923 of any archival institution in the state. Furthermore, the Military Archives' highly specialist military and civilian staff have earned a reputation for a standard of public service provision unsurpassed by any other national or local cultural institution. Collections including the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection, Bureau of Military History 1913-1921 Collection, National Army Census 1922, Collins Papers 1918-1922, and the Civil War Operations and Intelligence Collection, have expanded, deepened and democratised our collective understanding of, and engagement with, the turbulent, formative years of our state. However, this institution is far more than simply a revolutionary archive. The Military Archives is the statutory 'place of deposit' for the records of the Defence Forces, Department of Defence and Army Pensions Board, under the terms of the National Archives of Ireland Act, 1986. This places a legal obligation on both the military and the department to transfer records over thirty years old to the Military Archives for public inspection (as opposed to the National Archives), meaning that our records span the entirety of the Defence Forces' and Department of Defence's history. In the post Decade of Centenaries period, we have made a conscious effort to promote a deeper awareness of our post-Civil War era collections. One of our latest projects will achieve this by granting online access to our very substantial collection of aerial photography dating from the mid to late 20th century. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY Among the Military Archives' holdings is a very significant quantity (tens of thousands) of aerial images and associated plotting maps created by the Air Corps from the 1940s to the 1990s. These images constitute a significant visual record of the evolving Irish landscape during the last century and have proved valuable to researchers in recent years for reasons ranging from legal boundary disputes, to historical exhibitions and publications, to inquiries into the Tuam Mother and Baby Home (historical images being examined for evidence of disturbance to land due to burials). This unique collection also includes images taken during Operation: Sandstone. Initiated in 1946 by the UK Joint Intelligence Committee at the request of the US Chief of Naval Operations, this top-secret project's purpose was to conduct a topographical survey of the coastline and beaches of Ireland and Great Britain that would have been vital for an American counter-invasion from the sea had Russia invaded during the Cold War. The team at the Military Archives has been adamant about the need to make this collection more widely accessible for a long time, well aware of the value of the information it contains. However, despite a limited digitisation of a quantity of these images over a decade ago, they have never been made accessible to their full potential as Panoramic of Dublin Port – Grand Canal Quay ARTICLE BY COMDT DANIEL AYIOTIS

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