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Digitisation of Irish Methodist Newsprint.

The Methodist Historical Society (MHSI), in anticipation of its own centenary in 2026, set a goal of providing access to a complete run of over 150 years of Irish Methodist periodicals dating from 1859 to the present.

We are delighted that digitisation of the weekly Christian Advocate (1883–1923) and the Irish Christian Advocates (1924–1971) were completed during 2021 and by the end of March 2022 the monthly Irish Evangelists (1859–1883) and Methodist Newsletters (1972–2015) were added to the collection. Most recently, in October 2024, with the kind permission of the Methodist Newsletter, the years 2016–2020 have been included. These scanned and searchable issues have been uploaded and are available online through the search engine: https://esearch.informa.ie/mhsi/

This project, at an total cost of approximately £36,500, has been made possible by initially drawing on MHSI’s own funds and through donations from Society members and friends. The programme received a considerable boost during 2021 when the Society was awarded a generous grant of €15,000 from the Irish Heritage Grant Scheme, for which it is most grateful. This grant made possible the scanning of the Irish Christian Advocate (1924–1971) and the Methodist Newsletter (1973–2015) elements of the project.

In addition to the initial cost of digitisation the Society is faced with the cost of paying €1,750 per year to maintain this digitable archive online, allowing a worldwide audience to view and search it using any name, place, or other search term.

Grant from Irish Government’s Reconciliation Fund

 

 

 

 

MHSI is most grateful that it was awarded in 2025 a grant of €1,750 from The Reconciliation Fund of the Irish Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs to cover the cost of keeping this invaluable digitable archive online. This grant is one of the awards made as part of the Reconciliation Fund’s grants to organisations working to build better relations within and between traditions in Northern Ireland.