A digital outreach project between South East Technological University (SETU) and Newtown School Waterford has made a host of artefacts from the independent school’s rich 225-year history freely available online for the first time.
Led by Kieran Cronin, special collections, heritage and outreach librarian at SETU's campus in Waterford, the digital archive contains a wealth of information on the school which has seen the likes of Erskine Barton Childers, Ralph Fiennes, Sinéad O’Connor, and Leslie Dowdall pass through its storied halls.
By enabling easy access to the school’s history, it is hoped the archive will act as an important tool for students, researchers and those in the local community who wish to gain a deeper understanding of Newtown School and its influence on the cultural fabric of Waterford city. The school also hopes the democratisation of this history will foster a sense of shared heritage and community pride.
Artefacts available on the digital archive include a rare text published in 1898 marking the school's centenary, as well as a list of scholars who attended Newtown from 1798 to 1891.
Strengthening outreach linkage
Commenting on the archive, project lead Kieran Cronin said that the digitisation is a prime example of SETU "developing a strong outreach linkage to local community archives.”
He continued: "[By] developing strong outreach linkage to local community archives and offering our assistance, support and expertise, we can preserve and digitise important materials just like these”.
Waterford's Quaker history
Newtown School convenor Joan Johnson and former principal Roger Johnson praised the work of Kieran and his team while highlighting the importance of showcasing Waterford's Quaker history. "We are thrilled at the positive and encouraging efforts of Kieran in driving this collaboration with SETU. It will make these valuable, previously unseen by the public, Quaker records easily accessible to a wide range of people. We are very excited to see what the future holds for this project."
Others involved in the digital archival project include John Moloney (SETU, digitisation and graphic design) and Grainne Doran (Wexford County Archive, digital scanning).
A launch event is set to take place at SETU Waterford campus' Luke Wadding Library in spring 2024. This will coincide with the 1891-1952 Newtown Mountmellick Association books digitisation.
You can check out the archive by visiting newtownschool.ie.