Central Catholic Library in Dublin

The Central Catholic Library in Dublin was founded in 1922 and currently has over 100,000 titles. Their collections include religious works, contemporary history and church issues. They also house four daily newspapers and Catholic weeklies from Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, South Africa and the United States. From the very beginning, the Central Catholic Library has made it their policy to welcome persons from all denomination free of charge.

The library’s periodical and newspaper collection are noteworthy. A listing of the periodicals, many of them genealogical and historical in nature, can be found on their website.

A Sampling of the Library Collections

Stephen Brown Research and Reference Library: This is the main reading room and houses theological works, historical works, and information on the religious orders. This room has 45 current periodical titles from Ireland, the UK, France and the United States.

Irish Room: This room has a large collection focusing on Irish history, both religious and secular.

Carnegie Collection: This collection on permanent loan from the Library Council of Ireland covers philosophy, religion and sociology. Within this collection are many books on other Christian churches such as Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians and other denominations.

Jerome Room: This room holds a collection of some 1,200 books printed before 1850 going back to the sixteenth century.

Qualified Staff for Irish Catholic Questions

While this may not be the first repository you would visit or contact about your family history needs; I have found myself seeking their advice on occasion. For example, their staff is very qualified in Irish Catholic matters and being “on the ground” to use that expression, often they can fill in our knowledge gap about Irish culture, attitudes and practices.

If you would like help identifying where your Irish Catholic ancestor was from click here.