The Letterkenny launch of the Letters 1916 project took place from Thursday 10 to Friday 11 of March 2016. The outreach event was made possible through a SFI Discover grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). The Donegal County Council kindly offered the Letterkenny Central Library for the event, which was a great success and attracted over 20 participants. The Letterkenny event featured a drop in session on Thursday 10 November that allowed members of the public to upload, transcribe and bring in their own items for digitisation.
Later that evening, the public was invited to the evening launch which featured a number of speakers from the team and, member of the Letterkenny Historical Society, Kieran Kelly. The talks discussed a variety of topics including the importance of digital databases, a snapshot of Donegal in 1916 and a very personal story behind the Letterkenny letter from Patrick Clarke to Sir Matthew Nathan, 21 May 1916.
The following day the Letters team ran a workshop for the transition year students of Coláiste Ailigh. The team were kindly invited to the school where they worked with the students on the project. The students were asked to upload and research letters written by young men and women their own age from across Ireland.
The Letters of 1916 wishes to thank the Donegal County Council for providing us with venues for the event. We also wish to thank all who turned out to digitise, transcribe and chat to the team.