in Ireland, supported by national and local authorities.
“In recent years a local historian,
Dr Catherine Corless conducted new research into the Tuam Home, and discovered that 796 children who died in the home had no formal burial certif- icates. This prompted her research into burial practices at the home. Thousands more died or were forcibly adopted from Tuam and other such Homes in Ireland. It is believed the infants’ remains were buried in a site marked as a septic tank on the Tuam Home site.” The home, a former workhouse, opened in 1925 and although owned by Galway County Council, it was run by an order of Catholic nuns – the Bon Secours Sisters. At the time single mothers in Ireland were ostracised by society and homes like Tuam sprang up across the country. Women would be forced to give birth in the homes, and over the course of the next four decades some 35,000 children were born in these homes.
Conditions were bad in many of the homes,
and in Tuam things were particularly bad. Over the 36 years that it operated an average of one child died every two weeks. The first sign that something terrible had happened at the site came more than a decade after it was closed. The Home was demolished in 1972 and work began on building new council housing on the site. In 1975, two boys found some human remains while they were playing on the site – at the time it was assumed that these were from a famine-era gravesite and a priest was called to bless the site.
However, those explanations did not satisfy local historian Dr Corless and she spent years researching the home. During that research, Dr Corless made use of the university’s archive and local history collections, as well as records relating to the operation of the Tuam Home and archives of the Diocese of Galway, held by various bodies, and as the investigation gathered pace more people became involved.
Dr Houlihan said: “Catherine did
make use of our local studies and local history archive collections at the Hardiman Library. The New York Times
April-May 2021
journalist also conducted research with us. Catherine accessed records elsewhere, such as those held by Galway County Council who owned the Tuam Home (and which was operated by the Bon Secours Sisters). Historians, such as National University of Ireland, Galway colleagues Dr Sarah Anne Buckley and Dr John Cun- ningham, as well as Human Rights expert Dr Maeve O’Rourke, were actively involved in researching the history of these homes, as well as the Magdalene Laundries, an- other Church-run network of institutions for unmarried or so-called ‘fallen women’. “Investigative journalist Conal O’Flatharta wrote on these issues, such as forced adoptions and vaccine trials on children by major pharmaceutical com- panies, for years in national media before public awareness took interest.”
Fighting for access
This broad body of research was actively supported by archivists and the collec- tions they maintain. Without them, the job of uncovering the truth would have been much more difficult. And while the value of archives go far beyond the headlines generated from this particular
Barry Houlihan.
episode, it does serve as a useful reminder of their impact.
As the story of Tuam began to emerge and take hold in the press, the Irish government was forced to respond and in June 2014 it ordered a national commis- sion to investigate the home and others in Ireland. Again, access to evidence and records held in archives would be crucial for the commission. Dr Houlihan adds: “My own early research was on cultural memory of the homes, the public legacy of the homes today, as well as the record-keeping of the State and the authorities who ran the homes. As access to records of the Homes and of adop- tees became a central point of the State investigations, I was aware that archivists needed to contribute more to this national issue.”
Various commissions over the years have helped to heal some of the hurt, and Dr Houlihan points out that attitudes in Ireland have been transformed in recent years. Talking about local reaction to the news about the home, he says: “I think Galway opinion was like much of Ireland – it was of shock at the extent of hardship and loss experienced by the survivors and
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