"The Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland holds a unique place in the study of the Irish economy and Irish society. Since its foundation in the autumn of 1847 the Society has analysed the major changes that have taken place in population, employment, legal and administrative systems and social services. The one hundred and fifty years since the Society's foundation span the closing years of the famine, the transformation of post-famine society, the years when the land question was resolved, and the entire history of the independent Irish state. Seventy-five years of this history relate to Ireland under the Union, the remaining seventy-five are concerned with the experience of a native government. Through the Journal of the Society we can chart how major issues such as emigration, crime and the management of the economy have been evaluated by successive generations of members. No other single source provides such a comprehensive picture of social change over such a long period. - from "The Spirit of Earnest Inquiry" by Mary E. Daly, 1997