Marble City in focus: Tom Brett Photographic Collection is loaned to Kilkenny Archives

The Tom Brett Photographic Collection was purchased by Kilkenny County Council in May and loaned to Kilkenny Archives.
The collection was purchased on behalf of the people of Kilkenny by Kilkenny County Council. The purchase includes the copyright rights of the material in the collection, with some limited exceptions.
This is most likely to be the largest ever single collection of material to come into the local archives - or indeed to any archive - which was established in 1995 and which, since 2010, has been open almost daily to researchers and the general public.
The facility is housed on the campus of St Kieran’s College, whose President and Trustees have been key supporters through their provision of office and archival accommodation.
Glanbia PLC is another major sponsor of this initiative which has grown out of an idea for long preached by Hubert Butler of Maidenhall, Bennettsbridge, whose premise it was that every county should have its own archive facility. His widow, Peggy Butler, née Guthrie, though near the end of her long life, continued the campaign after Hubert’s death.
But back to the Tom Brett Collection. Since it came into the archive in early May, only very basic sorting work has been possible which includes digitised images, as well as positive and negative images.
It will take a couple of years to fully list all the material, which must number a couple of hundred thousand images at the very least. A special listing software programme was purchased over two years ago with this particular collection in mind. This was largely possible with a Heritage Council grant. Kilkenny Local Authorities also helped with the purchase. Therefore, each database entry in the catalogue will have an image as well as a textual description which should include all the names of the people captured in each photograph.
The Tom Brett Collection is a unique social record of the doings and happenings of Kilkenny largely for the years c. 1966 to about 2005.
A lifetime’s work is now happily preserved for the generations to come. Kilkenny County Council is to be congratulated for this foresight. Kilkenny has lost many key photographic collections since the 1960s, notably the Fox, Greenhough Studio of Rose Inn Street and the almost contemporary Moran Studio. Another loss is the Ossory Studio, but this recent acquisition helps make up somewhat for these disasters.
Waterford is lucky in that the Poole Collection of Photographs - the studio was situated near Reginald’s Tower - was acquired by The National Library of Ireland and is now one of the national treasures of that body. Many people from south Kilkenny would have gone to Messrs. Poole for their wedding day and other family photos.
Kilkenny Archives holds the O.G. S Crawford Photographic Collection from the mid 1940s which with the Lawrence Collection (c. 1890-1900) held by the National Library of Ireland, documents the built environment of Kilkenny and surrounds, but about 50 years apart.
The Tom Brett Collection includes some material relating to the built environment but from the mid 1960s onwards. For example, a small series of photographs within the collection documents the burning and loss of the major business premises of Daniel Smithwick and Sons Wholesalers which was destroyed by fire c. 1966. It stood on the site of what is now a number of business premises, including the Kilkenny People offices.
This archival acquisition by Kilkenny County Council is the first major archival investment by the Kilkenny Local Authority.
The next major step is the cataloguing of this insightful collection which will mean ongoing investment over the next few years.
Several requests have already come in from families of locally elected representatives for images which is a very small portend of what will occur once the collection is fully listed. We should all be congratulating our public representatives on having had the foresight to acquire this unique and very important collection while at the same time urging them to provide the necessary investment to fully catalogue this extensive Kilkenny photographic archive.
Kilkenny Archives holdings include: The Maidenhall-Lavistown Papers, The Swifte Papers, The Willoughby Jewellers Records, The Home-Rule Club Records, the archives of Glanbia PLC., The Prior-Wandesforde Family Papers, the Gowran Castle (Clifen) Registers and many, many other items and collections of Kilkenny note.