The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed on 6 December 1921. The Treaty led to the creation of an independent Irish state, but also a devastating Civil War that defined Irish politics for decades. Divisive as it proved to be, the signing of the Treaty one of the most important milestones in modern Irish history. The original Irish copy of the Treaty is perhaps the most famous document in modern Irish history and is retained in the collections of the National Archives in Dublin, which marked the centenary of its signing with the landmark exhibition The Treaty, 1921: Records from the Archives. This lavishly illustrated book, based on the original exhibition, explores the negotiation and signing of the Treaty by the Irish delegation that travelled to London in October 1921, and their day-to-day experience of life in London as the negotiations moved towards their conclusion. It does so through the documentary record that they left behind, much of it retained by the National Archives in Dublin and other archives in Ireland.
John Gibney is Assistant Editor with the Royal Irish Academy's Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (DIFP) series. His books include The shadow of a year: the 1641 rebellion in Irish history and memory (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013) and A short history of Ireland, 1500-2000 (Yale University Press, 2017). He is the co-author, with Michael Kennedy and Kate O'Malley, of Ireland: a voice among the nations (Royal Irish Academy, 2019), and, with Kate O'Malley, of The Handover: Dublin Castle and the British withdrawal from Ireland, 1922 (Royal Irish Academy, 2022).
Zoë Reid is Keeper of Public Services and Collections at the National Archives. She is an accredited conservator and established the Conservation Department in the National Archives (Ireland) in 2002. She has been responsible for safeguarding the long-term preservation of the national collection and ensuring safe public access to the archives. Over the past 20 years she has presented her work at international conferences and been published widely in conservation journals.
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