The National Library of Ireland is a major source for the study of the Irish Famine. Its collections include the newspapers, the parliamentary debates, and the various official reports published at the time. The Department of Manuscripts holds the records of many of the great landed estates, which provide primary evidence on the landlords' role in the crisis. The Library's extensive collection of prints and drawings enables us to visualise conditions at the time, and to empathise with our ancestors in their travails. To give as broad an understanding as possible of this vast and complex subject, the book also includes documents and illustrations from a number of other repositories. They include the National Archives, the Department of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin, Dublin Diocesan Archives, Birmingham Library Services, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the McKinney Library in Albany, U.S.A., and the National Archives of Canada.