Introduction
The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is the official archive for
Northern Ireland. It aims to identify and preserve records of
historical, social and cultural importance and make them available for
the information, education and enjoyment of the public.
PRONI is the official place of deposit for public records in Northern
Ireland. In addition, it collects a wide range of archives from private
sources. PRONI also advises on and promotes best practice in archive and
records management to ensure that today’s records will be available for
future generations. PRONI is located in Titanic Quarter, Belfast and
provides a Reading Room and Search Room for visitors.
These statistics provide a broad overview of PRONI. The data
presented covers 2024/25 and, where appropriate, other years are also
included.
There are approximately three million documents stored in the
archives at PRONI which fall under the categories of either public or
private records. PRONI’s oldest document is a papal bull of Pope
Honorius III, dated 1219.
PRONI hosts four General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI)
terminals which allow users direct access to GRONI’s most up to date
Births, Marriages and Deaths database. PRONI also makes available free
access to Ancestry, Find My Past, British Newspaper Archive and Irish
State Papers.
PRONI billboard advertisement.
Receiving and preserving records
Records reviewed, catalogued and published
Public authority records which are judged to be of lasting value are
moved to PRONI for permanent preservation. PRONI also receives records
from non-government sources e.g. churches, businesses, charities and
families.
Potential deposits are reviewed to assess their suitability for
preservation. Records to be preserved by PRONI are accessioned, and
recorded as new additions to the archive. This involves assigning a
reference number and recording information about the collection e.g. a
summary description and relevant dates. Once accessioned, the records
are stored and catalogued. Cataloguing involves creating descriptions of
the record/group of records in the PRONI catalogue.
PRONI stores physical records for review and preservation in standard
boxes, measuring one foot in length, PRONI uses this to give a measure
of linear feet of records reviewed and preserved. The measurement
demonstrates the amount of space freed up in storage areas in Government
Departments and other public authorities. As records can be of various
levels of complexity, PRONI ranks each box (easy, medium and difficult)
to give an additional measure of units reviewed and preserved.
PRONI storage room.
In 2024/25, 3,571 linear feet of records were reviewed by PRONI.
There were 897 linear feet of records (273 linear metres) and 653 units
of records catalogued in 2024/25.
The catalogue summarises the scope and content of PRONI’s archives
and contains over 1.5 million catalogue item descriptions. A snapshot of
the catalogue is made available to the public via PRONI’s electronic
catalogue (eCatalogue). There were 27,717 new items added to the PRONI
eCatalogue in 2024/25 and 9,436 items published in PRONI’s eCatalogue,
of which 8,128 items were published in the eCatalogue for the first
time.
Note: 1. An item can be a single letter, volume or file or may relate to
a bundle of documents. 2. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had a
significant impact on the operation of PRONI in 2020/21 with physical
access to the PRONI building and the archives severely restricted. 3. In
2021/22 the effects of the coronavirus pandemic continued to impact on
the operation of PRONI. In order to comply with government guidelines
regarding social distancing, the majority of staff were only able to
access the PRONI building on a part-time basis.
Conservation
The PRONI conservation team work to stablise the physical condition
of the Public Record through preventive and interventive measures.
Within the 2024/25 business year, conservators spent 185 hours cleaning
mould from new acquisitions and 174 enclosures were handmade to protect
volumes, rolled material or parchment leases.
A sample survey was carried out on collections stored in cyclopak
tubes, which estimates 21% of the entire material stored rolled is
unfit, 39% was at risk of losing unique information if handled and only
40% were safe to access.
Twenty-eight records were conserved for the Truth Recovery Programme
to consolidate them for digitisation, equating to over 1,000 hours of
treatment time. In addition, work to remove acidic historic repairs from
the registers of Archbishops’ Sweteman and Fleming (1360-1418) was
undertaken. Medieval paper, which is believed to be the oldest on the
island of Ireland, was consolidated with conservation-grade kozo paper
and wheat starch paste. The quires were then gathered and sewn into a
non-adhesive long stitch binding. This work was funded by the Virtual
Record Treasury of Ireland for digital inclusion on their platform. Work
on Archbishop John Swayne’s Register (completed the previous year) was
presented by PRONI conservation and VRTI staff at the Leeds Medieval
Congress, the symposium on Conservation Ethics and Decision-Making at
Durham University and an evening lecture for the Royal Society of
Antiquaries of Ireland.
Unicorn watermark from Archbishop Fleming’s Register (PRONI ref
DIO/4/2/2).
Available collections
PRONI holds millions of documents that relate chiefly, but not
exclusively, to Northern Ireland. The records held in PRONI fall into
two main categories:
Public records
PRONI holds public records mainly dating from the formation of
Northern Ireland (1921) to the present day. However, a significant
number of records also date back to the nineteenth century, and some to
the eighteenth century, including the archives of courts, schools, Board
of Guardians, Ordnance Survey, land registry and valuation records,
hospitals including asylums, local authorities and prisons.
Private records
PRONI also holds a diverse range of privately deposited records such
as letters, journals, diaries, photographs and albums. There are also
extensive archives of churches, landed estates, businesses, charities,
sporting bodies, and political parties.
Digital preservation
The primary aim of PRONI’s Digital Repository is to store, preserve
and provide access, where possible, to digital records. The records
received by PRONI are created by government departments, public sector
bodies and private depositors. The digital records and associated
metadata are stored permanently in PRONI’s Digital Repository. Access
copies are created for digital records which are open to the public and
are made available through PRONI’s online web application, eCatalogue,
and the onsite electronic catalogue system, CALM.
In 2024/25, 5,041 digital records were published via PRONI’s
electronic catalogue, 6,919 digital records were published via CALM and
65,007 digital records were processed to PRONI’s Digital Repository. A
digitised volume may be comprised of hundreds of individual records
(tiff files) in the Digital Repository whereas the access copy made
available to the public via the eCatalogue or CALM is a single pdf file
containing multiple pages.
In 2024/25, PRONI, in partnership with NI Screen and under the terms
of an agreement with ITV, continued to hold UTV’s film and tape archive,
to digitise and preserve key elements of this archive and encourage
public engagement with the content within it. This archive consists of
approximately 70,000 films and tapes, and a playback room is located on
the ground floor of the PRONI building. In 2024/25, a total of 908 film
reels and tapes were digitised and accessioned into PRONI, all of which
were processed to PRONI’s Digital Repository. In 2024/25, PRONI and NI
Screen continued to collaborate on a major digitisation project to
preserve the content of over 6,000 tapes from the UTV archive that were
at risk of degradation. The project was led by the British Film
Institute and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Web archive
PRONI provides a web archiving service whereby a selection of
websites from across Northern Ireland’s public sector are harvested from
the internet and stored in the (PRONI Web
Archive). Privately funded websites may also be included where the
content is considered appropriate for inclusion. A selection of Northern
Ireland websites are harvested each year using a web crawler. In
2024/25, 298 web crawls were published on the PRONI Web Archive and 441
individual websites were crawled.
PRONI Guide to Sports Records.
Digital images
One method of preserving is capturing images of the records
digitally. Making digital copies allows the information to be accessed
without the original record being handled and also allows access by more
than one person at a time. Many collections of records are now available
online. Increasingly, more time and professional expertise is required
to produce an enhanced image suitable for wider access, in addition to
the preservation master copy. The images generated include the master
copy, a high resolution restored image for archival purposes and a small
image (usually in jpeg or pdf format) for access purposes.
In 2024/25, there were 38,276 digital frames captured resulting in
57,807 image files being generated.
The table below provides a breakdown of the number of digital frames
captured for specific collections that were digitised in 2024/25.
|
Project
|
Number
|
|
Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland Project
|
3,690
|
|
CAIN - Records relating to the Northern Ireland Troubles which are
populated on the Conflict Archive on the Internet
|
2,757
|
|
Copies requested by general public
|
59
|
|
Church Records
|
2,748
|
|
Diocesan records
|
1,771
|
|
Holocaust related applications (COM/17/3)
|
1,899
|
|
USA 250
|
1,024
|
|
Michael J Murphy
|
708
|
|
Colonel Henry Grattan WW2
|
612
|
|
Workhouse Records
|
314
|
|
Hospital Records
|
180
|
|
Cara-Friend LGBTQIA+ papers
|
119
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
1,383
|
|
Truth Recovery Programme (TEO funded)
|
20,113
|
|
UTV
|
899
|
|
Total number of digital frames captured and processed
|
38,276
|
The Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) is a multi-tenant
platform used across the Northern Ireland Civil Service for capturing
digital and video assets and making them available for staff usage.
PRONI adds items of high public demand on to the DAMS which can be
reused for public orders, publications, talks or exhibitions. In
2024/25, PRONI added 1,142 items to the DAMS bringing the total to over
13,000 searchable images.
Retention and Disposal Schedules
A core part of PRONI’s work is supporting Northern Ireland public
authorities in the development and maintenance of Retention and Disposal
Schedules. Under the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland) 1923, the
Disposal of Documents Orders 1925, and the Freedom of Information Act
2000 Section 46 Code of Practice on Records Management, public
authorities are required to manage records appropriately throughout
their lifecycle and operate an approved Retention and Disposal Schedule.
These schedules must be formally laid before the Northern Ireland
Assembly and are a key element of effective records management.
Retention and Disposal Schedules provide a framework for determining
how long records should be retained, when they can be securely
destroyed, and which records should be preserved permanently as part of
Northern Ireland’s official archive. They are therefore the principal
mechanism for identifying records that should be transferred to PRONI
for permanent preservation. Public authorities covered by these
requirements include Northern Ireland government departments,
non-departmental public bodies, arm’s-length bodies, courts and
tribunals, and local government authorities.
PRONI works closely with public authorities to support this process
by:
- Advising on the development and review of Retention and Disposal
Schedules;
- Assisting in the identification of records suitable for permanent
preservation and transfer to PRONI;
- Providing guidance on records management best practice; and
- Coordinating the process for laying schedules before the Northern
Ireland Assembly and managing the associated negative resolution
procedure.
During 2024/25, Retention and Disposal schedules relating to 4 public
authorities were laid at the Northern Ireland Assembly and became
operational.
Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons MLA at the National Archives,
Washington DC with Jay Bosanko, Deputy Archivist of the United States,
NARA and David Huddleston, Acting Director, PRONI and colleagues.
Making records available to the public
Document production
Anyone can access documents in PRONI. By registering with PRONI,
visitors can request documents through the onsite ordering system. In
2024/25, there were 18,093 documents requested and produced.
PRONI has a number of targets to measure performance. Original
documents requested by visitors are retrieved from the stores, produced
in the Reading Room for consultation and then returned to their
designated locations in the stores.
The document production target for PRONI states that 94% of documents
should be produced within 30 minutes of being requested. In 2024/25, 95%
of documents were produced within 30 minutes. The average retrieval time
per order was 16 minutes.
Note: The use of the CALM document ordering system by the public was
suspended due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020/21 and
2021/22. In 2020/21, whilst the tightest restrictions were in place, all
orders for records were placed by staff in advance to facilitate
quarantining of the records. In 2021/22, coronavirus pandemic
restrictions limited the number of staff who could safely work in the
business area. Due to these restrictions, it was not possible to adhere
to the document production target in 2020/21 or 2021/22.
“We fought at D-Day” - Keith Beattie (NIWM), Author Mark Scott, Minister
Lyons, Stephen Scarth and Brian Henry Martin from Doubleband.
Written requests received from the Public
In 2024/25, the written correspondence target for PRONI’s Public
Services branch stated that 95% of written enquiries for open material
should be responded to within 20 days. For Records Management,
Cataloguing and Access branch 80% of requests should be responded to
within 20 days.
There were 3,172 written enquiries to PRONI’s Public Services branch
in 2024/25. All queries were answered, with 99% of responses to written
correspondence meeting the target. For Records Management, Cataloguing
and Access branch, 93% of the responses to the 366 written
correspondence enquiries met the target.
Written requests received from Public Authorities
Records Management, Cataloguing and Access Team (RMCAT) received 182
official requests from Public Authorities seeking access to information
contained in transferred historical records which are not open and not
readily accessible. These requests can be received from Northern Ireland
Executive Departments and other public bodies.
Since April 2020, PRONI has been required to respond to requests from
the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board and provide any
requested information within 5 days. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March
2025 PRONI responded to 96% of the 426 requests received within the 5
day target. PRONI responded to 100% of requests within 20 days. This
redress scheme was closed to new applicants on 2 April 2025.
Since September 2021, PRONI has also been required to respond to
requests from the Victims Payment Board and provide any requested
information within a 4 week target. Due to the large volume of requests
received from the Victims Payment Board during the reporting period, an
agreement was reached between PRONI and the Victims Payment Board to
extend the 4 week target to a maximum of 12 weeks to allow PRONI to
respond appropriately. In June 2023 this was reduced to 6 weeks and was
further reduced in October 2023 to the original 4 week target. Between 1
April 2024 and 31 March 2025 PRONI responded to 100% of the 606 requests
received within the 4 week target.
From November 2022, a number of PRONI RMCAT staff have assisted the
TEO-led Truth Recovery Programme on a special project relating to the
records of former Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and
Workhouses in Northern Ireland (1922-1995). This work supported the
plans for a Public Inquiry and Redress scheme. A ten-person Independent
Panel are currently investigating the practices of these, and related
welfare organisations in both public and voluntary sectors. The PRONI
team are supporting this work by gathering, cataloguing and preserving
(usually through creation of digital surrogates) relevant records and
archives. Statistics on this work will be provided following the
publication of the Independent Panel’s final report.
Launch of ‘A Common Humanity Full Circle’ - Rebecca O’Neill, Ann
Doherty, Stephen Scarth.
PRONI website
Search the archives online
PRONI has a programme of digitising significant archives to make them
accessible to the public online. The PRONI website provides a number of
applications allowing users to search the archives:
Facebook
PRONI publishes a number of new Facebook posts each week. Posts include
promoting new events, reminders of upcoming events and drawing attention
to PRONI’s resources and services. Popular posts have included ‘Map
Monday’ and ‘On this Day’. By March 2025, PRONI had 9,787 followers on
Facebook, an increase of over 1,200 on the previous year.
X
PRONI publishes posts throughout the week on X. By March 2025, PRONI had
3,563 followers on X, a decrease of just over 100 on the previous
year.
Instagram
By March 2025, PRONI had 2,083 followers on Instagram, an increase of
over 300 on the previous year.
YouTube
PRONI aims to record its public events and talks when possible. These
recordings are continuously being collected and added to PRONI’s YouTube
channel. In 2024/25, an additional 29 talks were made available on
PRONI’s YouTube channel. The Channel received 23,284 views with 325,950
impressions during this year. PRONI had 2,840 subscribers on YouTube, an
increase of 295 on the previous year.
PRONI Express
PRONI’s monthly eNewsletter, the PRONI Express, includes information of
forthcoming talks, events and new resources. Members of the public can
subscribe to receive the eNewsletter at the following link: https://www.proni.gov.uk/proni-express. At the end of
2024/25, 6,439 people had subscribed to receive the PRONI Express
(eNewsletter).
Dr Martin Mansergh launches the Eamon Phoenix Foundation website.
Release of Government Files
Each year, PRONI makes historical government records publicly
available; generally these are the files of NI Departments and the
Northern Ireland Office (Belfast). The annual release of selected
official files continues against a background of greater public access
through the Freedom of Information Act 2000, balanced against the need
to protect personal information.
Annually since 1976, official records held by PRONI which were 30
years old have been reviewed with a view to making them publicly
available (“the 30 year rule”). In September 2011, the Assembly accepted
a Legislative Consent Motion to reduce the time limit for release from
30 years to 20 years (“the 20 year Rule”). This is underpinned by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the amendments made to it by the
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. The 20 year rule is being phased in
over 10 years, with two years of records being reviewed and released
each year. During 2024/25, the records of NI Departments with terminal
dates of 2002 and 2003 were brought forward for release in August and
December 2024. This process involves the referral of the files to the
Responsible Authority for sensitivity review. This entails a page by
page examination to ensure that a record contains nothing sensitive as
defined by the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection
Act.
A total of 1,813 government files were released in August and
December 2024. Of these, 1,474 files were fully open. A further 293
files had some information blanked out, with the main reason for this
being to protect personal information, and 46 files remain closed in
full.
PRONI on CAIN
The PRONI at CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) partnership
publishes conflict-related documents selected from the Northern Ireland
Office and NI Departmental files. CAIN is hosted by Ulster University.
In 2024/25, 281 documents selected from files dating from 2000 and 2001
were added to CAIN. By 31 March 2025, there were 4,531 PRONI documents
available to view on CAIN.
Lynsey Gillespie and Grace Gordon (PRONI staff) at the Really Useful
History Show, Europa Hotel.
Visitors and visits
New visitors
There were 2,504 new visitors registered in PRONI in 2024/25. In
total, 55% of new visitors were female and 45% were male. In 2024/25,
50% of new visitors registered were aged between 25 and 64 years, whilst
44% were aged 65 years and over and 5% were under 25 years of age. Note
that 1% of new visitors did not specify their age when registering.
Note: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had a significant impact on
the registration of new visitors in PRONI in 2020/21 and 2021/22.
In 2024/25, 56% of new visitors were from outside Northern Ireland,
with 20% from USA, 13% from England and Wales and 7% from Australia and
New Zealand.
‘Titanoraks’ school visit.
Visitors to PRONI
PRONI is committed to improving and increasing cultural
participation. A series of public lectures, events and group visits
takes place throughout the year.
In 2024/25, there were a total of 14,088 visits to PRONI. There were
7,315 visits by the public in 2024/25 to the Search Room / Reading Room
in PRONI and there were 66 group visits comprising 849 visitors. PRONI
delivered 82 onsite and virtual events in 2024/25 which were attended by
5,924 members of the public. PRONI held 7 temporary exhibitions in
2024/25.
Visitors to PRONI on European Heritage Open Day.
Engagement with PRONI
Results from the 2024/25 Continuous Household Survey showed that 6%
of adults had used PRONI services within the previous year. Males were
more likely than females to have used PRONI services (7% and 5%
respectively). Similarly, adults aged 45 and over were more likely to
have used PRONI services (8%) than those aged 44 and under (4%) in the
last 12 months. Adults living in the most deprived areas were less
likely to have used PRONI services compared to adults living in the
least deprived areas (4% and 8% respectively).
More information relating to the Continuous Household Survey (CHS),
methodology, definitions and the interpretation of the figures can be
found in the report entitled Engagement
in culture, arts and heritage by adults in Northern Ireland 2024/25
(Definitions and technical notes section).
PRONI website page views
There were 5.6 million page views of the PRONI website in 2024/25. By
application most views were to the eCatalogue, followed by Will
Calendars and Valuation Revision books.
Note: 1. A page view is a hit to any file classified as a page. 2.
Glossary provides explanations of the categories of pages.
ImageNation celebrating India Independence Day at PRONI, August 2024.
Glossary
eCatalogue - The eCatalogue is a fully searchable
database containing over 1.5 million catalogue entries in PRONI’s
archives.
Freeholders’ records - Freeholders were men who
either owned their land outright or who held it in a lease for the
duration of their life, or the lives of other people named in the lease.
The freeholders’ records application includes pre-1840 freeholders’
registers and poll books.
Name Search - The Name Search database is a
searchable index listing pre-1858 diocesan wills and administration
bonds; and surviving fragments of the 1740 and 1766 religious census
returns and 1775 dissenters petitions.
Street Directories - Searchable database and
associated digitised images of Belfast and Ulster Street Indexes,
1819-1900 listing names of principal inhabitants, merchants,
shopkeepers, etc.
Ulster Covenant - The archive of the Ulster Unionist
Council, held by PRONI, has just under half a million original
signatures and addresses of the men and women who signed the Ulster
Covenant or corresponding women’s declaration on 28 September 1912.
Valuation revision books - PRONI holds valuation
records relating to the valuation of property in Northern Ireland from
the 1830s to 1993. The original purpose was, and remains, the assessment
of every building and every piece of land and an estimation of its
financial value.
Web archive - PRONI manages a programme to capture
and preserve a selection of Northern Ireland’s websites that are of
historical and cultural importance to Northern Ireland. The Internet
Archive carries out the technical web archiving and hosting process on
behalf of PRONI.
Will calendars - Searchable catalogue of will
calendar entries for the period 1858-1965.
