THE STORY OF GUINNESS
The story of Guinness is a living one. It is one that started with such optimism that its founder, Arthur Guinness, signed a 9,000-year lease on St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin.
Guinness has a rich and unique history. The Archive tells the story of the brand, the brewery, and its people while reflecting societal developments over three centuries.
DISCOVER YOUR GUINNESS LEGACY
The Guinness Archive has partnered with Ancestry to digitise and make available over 1.6 million historical records that capture the people of the Guinness. Does Guinness run in your family? Is there a family pub in your lineage or do you want to explore the history of your local? Connect with your family history through the archives collections.
TRANSPORTING GUINNESS
The global success of Guinness during its first 150 years presented significant transportation challenges. Learn how Guinness consistently sought innovative transport solutions to meet ever-increasing demand across the world.
LOVELY DAY FOR A GUINNESS
The quality of Guinness is reflected in the quality of its imaginative advertising. Explore the evolution of Guinness advertising and the story behind some of the public’s favourite campaigns.
THE GOODNESS OF GUINNESS
Arthur Guinness’ philanthropic spirit is so instilled in the Guinness tradition that it has been passed down through the generations and continues to burn brightly within the brand today.
The Guinness Archive tells the stories of its founders, its people and the brand. The team collects, preserves, and makes accessible rich records and artefacts from 1759 to the present day. The collections are used by a broad range of people with diverse interests, including marketing communities, economic and brewing historians, local historians, collectors, and family history researchers.
A team of professional archivists bring the Guinness Archive to life. Curating the Guinness Archive from St. James’s Gate – home of the Archive – the team ensures that the archive is constantly evolving and remains a vibrant, living entity.
Guinness is known the world over for its striking imagery - from its award-winning advertising to its instantly recognisable branding. Browse through some of the images that evoke the history of Guinness.
The Guinness Archive Podcast brings you deep into the archives of the Guinness collections to uncover the people and the stories behind the brand. Hosted by Irish historian, Turtle Bunbury, and featuring interviews with Guinness Flavour Essence Manager, Kate Curran, as well as cultural collaborators and authors such as Liz Gillis and Cathy Scuffil, Mango and Niall Sabongi, the 8-episode podcast is an audio journey into the heart of Guinness, located at Saint James’s Gate. Listen now.
The Guinness Archive holds a wealth of unique historic records, memorabilia, and other resources, tracing the rich and varied history of Guinness from its first foray into brewing to the present.
The Guinness Archive holds extensive records of past employees and customers. Search our database to trace your family history at Guinness or explore the story of your local pub.
Thousands of items from our collections have been digitised and are available to view online. Our digital collections cover a wide variety of aspects of Guinness history including advertising, brewing, past employees, as well as broader culture and society.
The Guinness Archive online catalogue provides researchers with access to descriptions of our extensive collections and digitised photographs. The catalogue is an access portal to all aspects of Guinness history.
Guinness has announced that the entirety of the brand’s advertising legacy, of 548 ads spanning 40 years from 1955 to 1995, have been catalogued, digitally preserved and made available to the public for the first time. The digitisation and restoration of the collection has been part funded by the Coimisiún na Meán Archiving Scheme and launched in partnership with the Irish Film Institute, where a select number of ads are also available.
The Guinness Archive team is always happy to help! If you have an enquiry about the history of Guinness or want to request an appointment to visit the Archive, please get in touch.
