The Edgeworth Family Papers are kept by Longford County Archives under reference P1. They contain 22 items dating from 1727 to 1894, a small collection with a long reach across the family’s history.
The collection concerns several generations of the family associated with Mostrim, later Edgeworthstown. Its account connects Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849) with novels including Castle Rackrent and The Absentee, and with her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth.
The surviving material includes account books, Maria’s letters and notes to acquaintances and later family correspondence. Different items reveal different aspects of intellectual, economic and private life; they should not be treated as if all were written by Maria.
The papers are available for research-room consultation according to the archive’s finding aid. The catalogue is a guide to holdings, not itself an edition or transcription of the letters.
A dated letter can challenge a familiar literary anecdote, or at least show where it came from. The catalogue is the place to begin; reading the original item may tell a rather more complicated story.
Keep reference details
Use the catalogue reference P1, a descriptive item reference where available and a date. Record whether a detail comes from an original letter, a later biography or a modern visitor-centre display.
Connections worth exploring
Compare family letters with Edgeworthstown’s local history and architectural heritage. Keep open whether a particular family member was living at the estate at the date of a document.