The Story of Us review

The Story of Us is a companion book released on Monday to tie in with the launch of the 1926 census. It’s edited by Orlaith McBride (Director of the National Archives) and John Gibney of the Royal Irish Academy.

The book is comprised of 29 short chapters, divided into 4 sections:

• The World of the Census – essays on Ireland in 1926 and the diaspora
• People and Places – esssays on everyday life and looking at different types of census return
• Identities – returns in Irish, minority groups, children & gender
• Economic life & infrastructure – housing, living conditions & the economy

The chapters are authored by some of the most eminent Irish academics out there such as Cormac Ó Gráda, Ida Milne, Sarah-Anne Buckley and Terence Dooley to name just a few. Two chapters are produced in both Irish and English to discuss the Gaeltacht regions. The essays by social historian Gregory Walls anchor the different sections nicely.

It’s really well edited. Sometimes, when you read a book that has many different chapters with overlapping themes, there can be repetitive sections, but there’s none of that here, and there’s lovely linking sentences to tie them together.

My main criticism is one that will be a familiar cry to people who research their family trees. While a few chapters do focus on the author’s own family (McBride, Ó Gráda, O’Malley), there is no essay written by a genealogist. This feels like a wasted opportunity and leans into the stereotype that genealogists are not proper historians. We will be the people who spend the most time looking at this census. Long after historians have moved on to new sources, genealogists will be using this data on a daily basis.

The Story of Us is written in an accessible, easy-to-read style. It limits the footnotes to a minimum, obviously designed to appeal to a wide audience. I’m sure much more academic content will come in due course, but this is a lovely start. I’m just jealous they all got to see it early!