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Waterford City and County Archives Service is an amalgamation of the City Archives in High Street, Waterford, and the County Archives in Dungarvan Library, Dungarvan. The City and County Archive holds the records of local authorities in Waterford City and County, past and present and also holds private collections relating to the City and County Waterford.

Archives are unique records of decisions, actions and memories and come in all formats, including, paper, digital and audio-visual. Archives provide evidence of human actions and the importance of archives has been recognised in the Universal Declaration on Archives which was adopted by the 36th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO on 10th November 2011.

Waterford City & County Archives

Visiting the Archives


The City and County Archive welcomes all visitors (by appointment) to the Archive and the Archivist and staff will provide every assistance that they can to identify the records that will be of interest for your research. Researchers can book appointments to view archives at the Archive located in Dungarvan Library. At present the Archive in High Street is closed to the public. Researchers are asked to contact the Archivist to make an appointment to view archives in City Hall.

Members of the public may view the archives by appointment and may carry out research in accordance with the rules laid down by the Archivist to ensure the safety of the archives.

Rules for Readers.

Waterford City and County Council staff cannot do research on your behalf. If you are unable to visit the Archives you will need to contact a researcher to visit the Archives on your behalf. You can find a list of researchers here (Please note that Waterford City and County Council does not accept any responsibility for either the work done or the fees charged by any of the researchers listed.)

However, the staff cannot do research on your behalf. Members of the public may view the archives and may carry out research in accordance with the rules laid down by the archivist to ensure the safety of the archives. We also maintain a Facebook page.

Donating and Depositing Archives


Copyright is a legal right over “intellectual property”. It restricts the right to reproduce any original work by an individual or organisation. Permission from the copyright owner must be sought to reproduce/publish their work. The records in the City and County Archive can be consulted for private study or research but copyright permission must be sought if you intend to reproduce or publish any of the archives in the City and County Archive. In the case of the local authority records in the City and County Archive, you can apply to the Archivist for permission to publish.

The City and County Archive may not hold copyright ownership on private collections and you are responsible for gaining copyright permission to reproduce or publish from these collections and for any failure to comply with copyright legislation. A copy of the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 can be found here.

The City and County Archive has made every effort to acknowledge copyright owners and the Archivist would appreciate it if any copyright owner not acknowledged on the website would get in contact so that this can be rectified.

Accessing Personal Information


Waterford City and County Archives Service holds collections of records that sometimes contain personal information about individuals and it is the policy of Waterford City and County Archive Service not to release any personal information until 100 years old. This is in compliance with the Data Protection Act, 1988 and the Data Protection (Amendment) Act, 2003. It can be tempting to assume that when a record is closed to access there are deep, dark secrets being hidden but personal information can simply refer to the name and address of a person.

The goal of the Archive Services is to provide access to information and in the case of personal information it is still possible to access these records provided you are the person to whom they relate or that you have the permission of the person to whom they relate. If the person to whom the records relate is deceased then you must provide evidence in the form of their Death Certificate to gain access to the records. If you are researching your family history and you would like to access records you believe relate to your family then you must provide the evidence of your research showing your connection to the person/s in the records.

The Archive Service will facilitate researchers in as far as possible to help identify if the records relate to their family but cannot provide access to personal information without certainty that the records are definitely relating to the family in question. In cases where this is uncertain the records will not be accessible.

If you have any queries about accessing personal information or any of the collections in the Archives please contact the Archivist at archivist@waterfordcouncil.ie

Donating and Depositing Archives


We are always interested in acquiring archives and records that relate to all aspects of the development and history of Waterford City and County.  Such archives may be from individuals, organisations, community groups, societies, national schools, solicitors, architectural firms or other businesses.

In general, it is the policy of the City and County Archive to collect related groups of records rather than individual items, as this ensures that the records can provide a more complete and accurate picture of an organisation, business, family estate or institution. Also, the research value of the records may be diminished if they are removed from their original source.

If you have a collection that you would be willing to donate, or know of someone who would, please contact the Archivist at 058 21144 or email archivist@waterfordcouncil.ie

Waterford City and County Archive is immensely grateful to all the individuals and organisations who have donated or deposited collections. We appreciate everyone who has kindly added new chapters to the story of Waterford.

Collecting Policy of Waterford City and County Archive


The City and County Archive works to preserve collections of archives relating to the history and development of Waterford City and County. The records are stored in environmentally controlled conditions and care is taken to ensure they are stored and handled in a manner that ensures their long-term preservation. The goal of the City and County Archive is not only to ensure the preservation of its records but also to make these records available to researchers in Waterford and beyond.

In general, it is the policy of the City and County Archive to collect related groups of records rather than individual items, as this ensures that the records can provide a more complete and accurate picture of an organisation, business, family estate or institution. Also, the research value of the records may be diminished if they are removed from their original source. If you have a collection of material that you feel is of historic interest in relation to the City and County of Waterford, then please contact the Archivist.

Contact Waterford City & County Archives