Hayes Manuscript Sources, or, Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilization was created by the Director of the National Library of Ireland, Richard J. Hayes.  Started in 1941, the project to catalogue manuscript sources relevant to the history of Ireland was completed in 1965 with a supplement published in 1975.

It is an extensive catalogue of manuscripts relevant to the history of Ireland. This collection includes many items that are of use to the Irish genealogist. The catalogue identifies manuscripts and journal articles not just located in Ireland but from repositories all over the world.

Hayes Manuscript Sources Online

The catalogue is now available online through the National Library of Ireland and has been updated to include all of the manuscripts catalogued by the library up to the 1980s.   It is a dynamic search facility for locating material that might supplement your research.

You can use the search facility to locate manuscripts relevant to a particular location or to a particular family name. These can include pedigrees for the landed gentry of Ireland, estate papers that include rent rolls, administrative records for some Poor Law Unions, including workhouse registers and minute books. There is a wealth of material identified in this catalogue that may prove useful to your research. Remember, this is only a catalogue and the manuscripts themselves are rarely published online.

The National Library of Ireland website now has numerous online catalogues, including photographs, newspapers and manuscripts which can open up a world of possibilities for the family historian and is well worth a visit to familiarise yourself with their holdings.