Assisted Archival Research

Depending on how long you wish to spend in the archives with a member of our research team, our Assisted Archival Research service costs:

• Half Day - £300 (Guild price: £280)
• Full Day - £450 (Guild price: £420)

The Foundation’s research team has the knowledge and expertise to break down any brick walls you may have encountered and assist you in your family history research.

The Foundation was based originally in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), and our researchers know the archives and how to mine the information for your family history.

Our researchers’ experience and knowledge is not limited to working in and alongside PRONI. Collectively, our researchers have over 100 years’ experience working in Irish and Scots-Irish family history, with their research taking them to archives and libraries across this island.

Our Assisted Archival Research Service will be of benefit to both the experienced and novice family history researcher. It may be of particular benefit to those of you who only have a limited time to spend in a particular archive and want to make the most of that time working with a professional researcher.

Assisted Archival Research consists of either a half-day or full-day working alongside a Foundation researcher in the Public Record Office Northern Ireland (PRONI) or another archive or library in Belfast.

If you are interested in researching at an archive or library outside of Belfast please indicate on the form below which institution(s) you are interested in visiting.

The researcher will narrow down the areas your ancestors may have lived in, identify documents which may relate to your ancestors, and sit with you to read and interpret the original sources you will be able to access in the archive.

Full-day sessions include lunch with the researcher in the PRONI café.

Also included is a one-hour zoom consultation with your researcher so that they can become familarised with your family history and objectives for the assisted archival research.

On the form below you can indicate whether you want to spend a half-day or full-day in the archive. You can specify a date or several dates when you would be available to visit the archives.

Our Research and Membership Secretary will then be in touch to finalise arrangements to suit both you and one of our researchers.

You will be asked to provide additional information at this stage so that the researcher can prepare for your research session.

If you are interested in setting up an Assisted Archival Research session in an archive outside of the greater Belfast area, please note that there will be an additional fee for the researcher’s travel time and mileage costs.

Please note there is a maximum of two clients to a researcher. If you are part of a larger group, you will need to commission more than one researcher for your session.

If you have an urgent request, we would recommend contacting our office by calling 028 9181 2073 to check availability.