Collections and Access

University of Galway Library Archives and Special Collections holds collections of many leading Irish cultural figures, organisations and groups, political figures, academics, theatres, writers, human rights activists, businesses, landed estates, oral history, local heritage and landscape, among other themes and topics. 

The strength of these collections lies not only in their individual merits, but in the significant opportunity that they together represent to those interested in researching Irish history and that of Galway and the West of Ireland. 


The Archives hold over four hundred collections in total, ranging in size from single items to 700 boxes of materials, and dating from 1485 to the present. A full guide to our deposited collections is available here. You can also find details on Special Collections materials and access here. Information on the conditions of access to collections is also online.   

The Archives Service is committed to making as many descriptive lists as possible available online. You can search the online Archives Catalogue here

For further information on our collections and research at the Archive and Special Collections service or to book a research visit please email: libarchives@universityofgalway.ie

Archives and Special Collections Reading Room