The Story of Us exhibition will travel to 10  venues as well as the Ploughing Championships over the coming months. Meath will host the first of the exhibitions on this Saturday, 13 th June to Sunday, 28 th June in St Mary’s Community Centre in Navan. As part of the release of the 1926 Census, the National Archives will bring a specially curated exhibition, The Story of Us to 11 venues across Ireland over the coming months as part of its public engagement programme developed to accompany the launch of Census 1926.

Now the Story of Us exhibition will begin a tour to 10 Local Authority venues over the coming months including Meath, Donegal, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Kildare, Westmeath, Kerry and Tipperary. It will also be presented at the Ploughing Championships at Screggan, Co. Offaly.

Local Authorities were invited by the National Archives to host the exhibition which explores what life was like in the newly independent Ireland of 1926. Using contemporary documents and images, audio-visual displays and, above all, the census returns themselves, The Story of Us explores the 1926 census to present a picture of life in Ireland in 1926: from sport and entertainment to language, culture, religion, gender and the working lives of the inhabitants of the Irish Free State a century ago.

Speaking in advance of the tour, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan TD, said: “I am delighted that the National Archives will bring its exhibition, The Story of Us to 10 local authority venues across the country, The release of the Census 1926 has truly captured the public imagination and this exhibition allows people to better understand the Ireland of 1926.

“For people across Ireland, the 1926 Census has offered something deeply personal. It has allowed us all to step back in time and encounter our own families, neighbours and communities as they were almost a century ago. It brings history out of the abstract and into the everyday. This exhibition provides a further opportunity for people to explore Ireland and its people in 1926.”

Orlaith McBride, Director of the National Archives, said: “We are greatly looking forward to bringing The Story of Us on tour over the coming months in partnership with our local authority colleagues. The exhibition has already been presented in Dublin, London and Boston where thousands of people enjoyed discovering more about Ireland in 1926. Census 1926 is not simply a historical document. It is a living national resource. It belongs not only to academic historians or archivists, but to the wider public. In the weeks since the launch and hopefully in the months and years ahead, people will search the census to discover grandparents and great-grandparents, trace migration and family connections, understand changing patterns of work and language, and explore the everyday realities of life in Ireland in 1926. This exhibition offers a further insight into that Ireland.”

The National Archives released Census 1926 on 18th April 2026, making it freely available and fully searchable on www.nationalarchives.ie. The newly released records provide an unprecedented resource, allowing users to efficiently navigate detailed household returns from 1926 for the first time. Since its release, there have been over 40 million hits to the National Archives website.

The preparation of the 1926 Census for public release has been a major project for the National Archives and the State, supported by a €5 million Government investment. The initiative which took almost three years, saw the careful conservation, preservation, high-resolution digitisation, and transcription of over 750,000 individual household and enumerator returns.

Full details of Exhibition Tour

  • Meath – Saint Mary’s Community Centre, Navan, 13 – 28 June
  • Kildare – Naas Library & Cultural Centre, 4 – 28 July 2026
  • Cork – St. Peter’s, Cork, 7 – 26 July 2026
  • Waterford – Central Library, Waterford City, 1 – 20 August 2026
  • Wexford – Wexford County Council, County Hall, 4 – 21 August 2026
  • Westmeath – Westmeath County Council Buildings, 25 August – 11 September 2026
  • National Ploughing Championships – Screggan, Co. Offaly, 15 – 17 September 2026
  • Kerry – Kerry County Library Tralee, 1 – 17 October 2026
  • Limerick – Civic Offices, Merchants Quay, 2 – 16 October 2026
  • Tipperary – Source Arts Centre Thurles, 2 – 21 November 2026
  • Donegal – Donegal County Museum, Letterkenny, 25 November – 20 December 2026