old gaelic graveyard in Kincasslagh county Donegal IrelandIt goes without saying that gravestones are an important facet of any genealogical research, as the information written on a headstone can verify details, create new leads, as well as sometimes creating more questions. But nothing can beat seeing the headstone or marker of a grave of a long-lost ancestor, be it in person or an online photograph.

Sadly headstones don’t last forever, with both the weather and vandalism playing a part to erode history, so it is important that details get recorded now.

The Historic Graves Project is an Irish-based community-focused heritage project, that aims to work with indivduals and groups around the whole of Ireland to record by photographing and transcribing the details from over 3600 graveyards around the country.

All information that is contributed to the Historic Graves project is submitted by volunteers, and the information on the site is available to everyone, free of charge.

But rather than simply being a transcription and photo website, the project allows for mulitmedia as well. So you can contribute a video, or audio oral history, which adds another dimension to the site. Together with collaboration, this will become a multimedia (online written, visual, and audio) record of the historic graves in Ireland.

As you can imagine this is a “work in progress,” so don’t despair if “your” cemetery hasn’t been covered yet. Just be sure to check the map of completed graveyards, which gets updated regularly (http://historicgraves.com/graveyardsmap). Click on an area of interest on the map to “zoom in” and see the details.

For more about this Historic Graves Project have a read about them on Scribd.

MORE INFORMATION
Website: http://www.historicgraves.com
Email: info@historicgraves.ie
Blog: http://historicgraves.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Historic-Graves/
Twitter: @historicgraves
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/2/+Historicgravesdotcom/posts

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