“Tracing the Elusive Irish” Genealogical Program June 22 Hosted by WSU Honors College

PULLMAN, Wash. — Area historians and genealogists are invited to register for a one-day program detailing Irish and Scots-Irish research Thursday, June 22, on the Washington State University campus in Pullman.

Sponsored by the WSU Honors College and the History Department, the event will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in room 518 of the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education.

The program, titled, “Tracing the Elusive Irish: Archival and Digital Sources for Family-Local-Social History,” will feature two experts from The Ulster Historical Foundation (UHF), headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Fintan Mullan is the UHF executive director, and Brian Trainor is the UHF research director. He is also the former director of the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, and chairman of the Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Mullan and Trainor are experts on all of Ireland, and will discuss research records and the latest resources, including digital sources, computer databases and CDs.

The cost of the program is $25. Reservations can be made by phoning Peggy Perkins at 509/335-4507, or emailing her at perkins@wsu.edu. Space is limited and early registration is encouraged. The program fee covers materials and a boxed luncheon.

Wack says she was impressed by her first-hand experience with a UHF workshop. “While investigating the lives of ordinary farming families from Co. Derry in the nineteenth century for an upcoming book, I came upon a unique opportunity for the public to benefit from a guided tour of Irish historical research,” she says in her Web site welcome to the event. “I attended a UHF workshop in Spokane last year, and came away with new leads for my own research.

“I think beginners and experience researchers alike, whether genealogists or historians, will discover new angles for tracing individuals and discovering history ‘from the bottom up’ through this program at WSU.”

Attendees wishing for individual consultations might want to consider an online “preliminary research assessment” in advance of the day’s program, Wack suggests. Mullan and Trainor will be available for these also before and after the workshop.

Directions, parking information and workshop details, along with more information on the preliminary assessment, are available at https://honors.wsu.edu/Irishgenealogy/index.htm .