The Irish Newspaper Archives is not just a resource for family historians. It has a much wider audience of academic, social and local historians. It’s an independent Irish business, unconnected to any of the international corporations that control so much online genealogical data. In fact, the Irish Newspaper Archives is a family-run business, so it has its own element of family history. Andrew and Jonathan Martin are part of the team behind the business that was founded by their late father, Alan Martin, in the 1960s.

Today, their mother Annette is another of the four family members currently involved in it.

Andrew and Jonathan tell Paul how their father began what is now the Irish Newspaper Archives by providing microfilming facilities for newspaper publishers and libraries throughout the country, under the name National

Micro Publishing. In the twenty-first century, digitisation allowed for bringing the newspapers online. The Martin family’s passion for their business comes through in the chat. It’s a dynamic enterprise, with current newspapers updated weekly and back issues constantly being added.

Series Producer: Conor O'Hagan

Audio Supervisor: Conor Cullen

Link to the Irish Newspaper Archives: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/

Link to Irish Newspaper Archives on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/INArchive