A digital archive of the world's first Irish language newspaper has been launched by the University of Galway.
It brings together every edition of An Gaodhal, which was published in the United States between 1881 and 1898.
The bilingual newspaper was founded, edited and published by Michael J Logan, a native of Milltown, Co Galway, who emigrated to New York in 1871.
It is described as a "seminal influence on the Irish-language movement and media".
The university holds the only surviving collection of the newspaper, containing every issue ever published.
It is made up of a total of 147 separate issues, running to over 2,000 pages. The archive was bound in New York and sent to the university in 1924.
In recent years, it has been fully digitised and is now available to view via the institute’s website.
Researchers have used AI machine learning technology, known as Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which allows users to search the collection for specific terms or topics.
This task was complicated by the use of cló Gaelach, the Irish script derived from the manuscript tradition.
As there were no models for a search facility to effectively ‘read’ this text, artificial intelligence was trained to learn it and then develop search functionality.
An Gaodhal boasted a wide variety of material over the course of its lifespan. These included articles, advertisements, lists of subscribers, folklore, poetry and song lyrics.
Dr Deirdre Ní Chonghaile from the University of Galway said it was established by Mr Logan after he saw a need for a publication to serve a large population of Irish speakers in the US at the time.
In the 1890s, an estimated 40% of the world’s Irish speakers were living overseas, with 400,000 in America and 70,000 of them in New York.
Dr Ní Chonghaile said the paper had an immediate global readership, with subscribers in places like Australia, Alaska, New Zealand, Europe and elsewhere.
"It had a bit of everything in it, but the single goal was to promote the language.
"The paper was printed commercially initially but was losing money after four issues. So Michael Logan got the equipment, bought a manual called ‘Watson’s Amateur Printer’ and started printing the paper himself in the evenings or when he had time after work".
It was published nearly every month over 18 years.
The archive was launched this afternoon by Minister for the Gaeltacht Dara Calleary.
He said the initiative ensured that the language had a strong presence in a digital age and paid tribute to the vision and commitment of those involved in the project.
All digitised issues of An Gaodhal are available on the University of Galway’s digital repository.
RTÉ's History Show: The An Gaodhal Project
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