Volume of draft minutes of proceedings of monthly Committee meetings. The minutes record attendance, together with proceedings of Committee business relating to the establishment, management and administration of a county library service, dealing with matters such as the selection and purchase of book stock, acknowledgement of donations, staffing matters, payment of accounts and so on. The minutes record in draft form resolutions proposed and resolved or rejected by the Committee together with details of correspondence received.
Includes
- minute noting the ‘possibility of the Board (Board of Health) disposing of Workhouse buildings throughout the county. Cannot spend any money on the Library in the Board-room, Ballinasloe’ (p7).
- ‘Resolved that no books be purchased from English Booksellers unless these Booksellers employ Irish representatives…’ (p13).
- ‘Public Records :- Professor F.W. Ryan called on this matter - This material - sometimes called “monuments” or “archives” - is of great national and local importance. If, however all archives were to be accumulated a selection must be made as the Public Records Office or any local office could not accommodate all official documents. The idea is to keep (and to ascertain the whereabouts and the ownership of those in private hands) only such material as might be required for future reference. The question of what is to be preserved is very important in modern archives because of the bulk of the records.
In other countries, particularly the continental, the State controls the whole of the nation’s archives. There are generally one or more natural archive repositories similar to our Public Record Office, preserving the records of Government departments. In addition to these there are the local repositories which preserve all other civic archives, down to those of the smallest local government authority.
The Galway County Council has already realised the importance of preserving their own records, and some years ago had asked the co-operation of this Committee to allow our Secretary to sort out a huge accumulation of material - to make a selection of what is important. This has been done and many items of real value have been saved (One has unfortunately to record that during the last war material of great value was sold for waste paper).
The dispersal of deeds throughout Ireland in the past has resulted in the finding in solicitor’s offices of collections of deeds and family papers. Family papers are very important to archives. Quite often one or two families have almost ruled a locality, and consequently the correspondence and business matters deal largely with local affairs. In this respect ….
The Public Record Office gives extensive lists of the classes of material likely to be in the possession of the various local authorities and in private hands…
As already pointed out this work is of great national importance and the local library has always been regarded as the central stores and authority for documents of local interest. The co-operation of the public is necessary if our national records are to be saved.’ (26 July 1941, pp108-111).