Sir. - With reference to Mary Cummins (June 6th) the issue of a women's archive is one that concerns every historian working in the field of women's history in the 1990s. Far from opposing the establishment of a women's archive, the Irish Association for Research in Women's History urged the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht to provide adequate funding for an archive which would be serviced by trained archivists in a secure and suitable environment for the preservation of archival material.
For these reasons we recommended to the Minister that the women's archive take its place within the National Archives in Dublin. The expectation of a positive response from the Minister to its submission is still a primary concern of the Irish Association for Research in Women's History.
Incidentally, the Association, pace Mary Cummins, is the official society for research in Irish women's history and is affiliated to the International Federation for Research in Women's History. Open to all, it includes among its membership all of the serious researchers in Irish women's history. It has organised an annual conference since 1988. This years is in Queen's University, Armagh from September 20th-21st on the theme of Women, Politics and the State.
(President),
(Secretary),
(Treasurer),
(Bulletin Editor),
Irish Association for Research in Women's History,
School of Modern History,
Queen's University,
Belfast.