If today is any indicator of the next two weeks, Belfast will be a very valuable stop on this research trip. Let's hope it is.
I got up and went to the student center located about 50 yards from my building for the provided continental breakfast. They actually had a decent selection of stuff and it was nice not to have to buy breakfast food. Up QUB!
It was just over a mile to walk to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, which took about 20 minutes. No rain today and the temperature isn't too bad so I didn't mind it at all. I ended up getting there at 9:30am. Registration was a breeze. I spent a couple of hours going through their finding aids and online catalog compiling a list of sources I wanted to go through. I spent the afternoon going through the first batch.
I had a reference for the Irish Rugby Football Union from another book and I was greatly pleased with the material I found. A good deal of information about the organizations efforts to commemorate their fallen in WWI. Exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for. Hopefully more of that will turn up along the way.
Towards the end of the day I was approached by a gentleman who, I assumed, worked at PRONI. He asked, somewhat puzzled, if I, in fact, went to Loyola since I was wearing a LUC t-shirt. I confirmed that I did and I was there working on my PhD. He introduced himself as Sean Farrell from NIU, a name I have heard of - cool! He asked who I was working with, still seeming a bit unsure. I told him my adviser was Ted Karamanski and Andy Wilson was one of my readers. This seemed to make much more sense to him, especially after I told him who I was NOT working with, which, of course, did not seem to surprise him. He seemed to be on his way out, but said he'd be back tomorrow. He offered conversation over a coffee/tea break, so hopefully I can count Dr. Farrell as another good contact gained on this trip.
All in all, a good day at the archives. Hopefully this will be a recurring trend over the next few weeks.
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