Noel Kissane had 1,000 documents to sort through when he accepted the task of choosing what would be included in the National Library's online exhibition commemorating the 1916 Rising.
The exhibition (www.nli.ie/1916) was opened yesterday by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue.
Dr Kissane selected 400 images and 38,000 words of text for the 90th anniversary exhibition.
"The exhibit is not on the Rising itself but on the personalities," Dr Kissane said. He chose documents that would be legible on the internet, of historical significance and of human interest.
Dr Kissane said he wanted to document not just the Rising, but also to show what influenced the people involved to act as they did.
Director of the National Library Aongus Ó hAonghusa said the online exhibit allows more images and information to be accessed by more people.
It is the library's first online exhibition. "It's a step into the unknown for us," Mr Ó hAonghusa said.
Mr O'Donoghue said putting the exhibition online was a way of bringing history into the present, and preserving it for the future.