The National Archives of Ireland has posted the 1911 Census of Ireland for Dublin online free.  In addition to being able to search for your ancestors and view census images, they have also included a photographic history of Dublin  on the site with articles on transportation, tenements, education, religion, suburbs, emigration, social life, etc. There are some very cool photographs accompanying each article.

Since my Irish forebears left Ireland well before 1911, I spent most of my time in the photographic history exhibits, but I also did a few searches on some of our surnames and found some of them in the same towns that my ancestors once called home. Very cool stuff!

Right now only indexes and images for the city and county of Dublin are available, but there is a list of future counties that will be forthcoming available on the site.

I also noted that the National Archives of Ireland partnered with Library and Archives Canada for research on the project and linked to a website titled, The Shamrock and the Maple Leaf: Irish-Canadian Documentary Heritage at Library and Archives Canada. Among the neat items I found here were excerpts from letters home from an Irish immigrant who had settled in Canada.

Both sites were a treat to visit!