One of the jewels in IGSI’s Irish collection at the Hoffman Research Library is the 16-volume set known as the Casey Collection. If you have ancestors from Cork or Kerry, you’ll want to learn more.

This series of books, compiled by Albert E. Casey, is formally titled O'Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher and the Upper Blackwater in Ireland. It includes Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland and Quaker birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records transcribed from parish and civil registers.

The title is found in only a few large libraries across the country. IGSI’s set is probably located in one of the smallest libraries and certainly the closest for most IGSI members.

Here are several helpful introductions to the Casey Collection:

1. “Casey’s Remarkable Collection of Genealogical Sources for Kerry and Cork ... and How to Use It” by Michele Patin
2. My Kerry Ancestors website
3. “If You’re Looking at Cork, Don’t Forget the Casey Collection” by Ray Martin. This article appears in The Septs, Volume 16, No. 3 (July 1995), Page 90.
4. “The Mother Lode of Irish Genealogy” by Ray Martin, another Septs article published in Volume 16, No. 4 (October 1995), Page 97.

Note you must be an IGSI member to access online issues of The Septs. The index and images from the Casey Collection are also available with an Ancestry World Explorer subscription.

Another option is to visit the MGS library and look in person at the “three feet of stout, hardbound volumes,… a monumental hoard of information” as described by Michele Patin. The books might more accurately be described as super-sized since they are both tall and 3-4 inches thick. Despite the large size of the volumes, the print can be small and researchers are advised to bring a large magnifying glass.