An archive of over 1,500 recordings has been compiled by Maurice and Jane O'Keeffe since 1990. As they are commissioned by the Local Authorities of each county, they travel the highways and byways of Ireland recording the oral history there. Each recording is produced on an individual CD of approximately 1 hour in duration.
Every topic under the Irish sun is included in the recordings - local and national history, family histories, folklore, music, local customs, traditions and beliefs, teaching and schooling, fishing and farming traditions, boglands and turf, rural electrification and the growth and development of rural villages and towns, the Economic War and the Emergency Period, the 1916 Rising, The War of Independence and The Civil War.

Irish Life and Lore Collection Launches 2010 sees the launch of the Second Cork City Theatre Collection and the Fleishmann Collection which celebrates Prof. Aloys Fleischmann and his wonderful career in music. Work has now begun on the Donegal Collection and will be completed before the end of 2009. Recording will begin on the Meath Collection during September, and for the month of November, a special oral history Collection is being compiled in the Falkland Islands under the auspices of the Shackleton Fund in association with Queen's University, Belfast. This week saw the publication by Liberties Press, Dublin of the book by Niamh O'Sullivan, former archivist at Kilmainham Jail. The book is entitled "Written in Stone" and relates to the grafitti on the cell walls of the Jail, written by Republican prisoners during the War of Independence and Civil War. Included within the covers of the book is a recording on CD compiled by Maurice O'Keeffe as he walks through the cells with Niamh O'Sullivan, describing the grafitti and remembering the people who wrote it.more » Irish Life and Lore Photographic Exhibition The Irish Life and Lore Photographic Exhibition is now on display at Clonakilty Library, Co. Cork and will shortly travel to Skibbereen. "Heartlands" - the Photographic and Audio Exhibition, compiled by the Irish Life and Lore Series for Bord na Mona, is on display at the Credit Union Hall, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Irish Life and Lore on RTE Irish Life and Lore has been featured a couple of times recently on RTE Radio 1's Morning Ireland show.more » Sample Audio from the Fingal Collection Listen to an hour of audio snippets from the recently published Fingal (North Dublin Collection. The Old Kerry Journal - Second Edition The Second Edition of the Old Kerry Journal has been published by Russell McMorran and Maurice O'Keeffe.more » Irish Life and Lore on RTE's Nationwide The Irish Life and Lore series were recently featured on RTE's Nationwide programme.more »

 

Most of the recordings in the Irish Life and Lore archive have been divided into Collections according to the counties in which they were compiled. Each Collection is comprised of individual CDs accompanied by an illustrated catalogue giving a brief synopsis of each recording. Each CD may also be purchased individually.

The most recent Collections completed are:

First Cork County Collection (43 CDs)   Email Us to purchase individual CDs Cork IT Collection (51 CDs)   Email Us to purchase individual CDs Cork City Collection (52 CDs) North Cork/Duhallow Collection (45 CDs)   Bord na Mona Collection (28 CDs)   Email Us to purchase individual CDs   First Kildare Collection (36 CDs)   Email Us to purchase individual CDs   First Kilkenny Collection (51 CDs) Second Kilkenny Collection (52 CDs)   First Tipperary Collection (45 CDs) North Tipperary Collection (50 CDs)   First Galway Collection (26 CDs)   First Clare Collection (39 CDs) Second Clare Collection (45 CDs) Third Clare Collection (50 CDs)

First Kerry Collection (119 CDs) North Kerry Collection (54 CDs) Third Kerry Collection (92 CDs) Fourth Kerry Collection (50 CDs)   Clara Collection (29 CDs)   Email Us to purchase individual CDs   First Carlow Collection (50 CDs)   North Dublin Collection (78 CDs) South Dublin Collection (61 CDs)   First Laois/Offaly Collection (50 CDs) Second Offaly Collection (70 CDs)   Wexford Opera Collection (62 CDs)   West Limerick Collection (47 CDs)   1916 Collection (33 CDs)

	Featured Wexford Opera CD Katie Corish This interview was recorded on Katie Corish’s 90th birthday by her grand-daughter Helen, who adopted a chronological approach to the interview, recording her grandmother’s family background, her school days, her marriage to Dick Corish, the 1911 lockout, the 1916 Rising and other historical events. In this recording is Katie’s involvement with the ... read more »» Featured Cork City CD Jack Higgins Jack Higgins’s successful journey through public office culminated in his attainment of the position of Cork City Manager in 1995, and it is a fascinating story to record. He joined the Civil Service after leaving school, and took up a post with Cork City Council for 10 years, working in various departments, after which he was transferred to other ... read more »» Featured North Dublin CD Joe Curtis Joe Curtis is an avid collector of historical memorabilia associated with the local villages in North Co. Dublin. He recalls his mother’s people, the Gilsenans, who have lived in the area since the 1600s, often employed as carpenters. Joe speaks about the great success of the Baker family in the business of horse-breeding. As he browses through ... read more »» Featured South Dublin CD John Griffin John Griffin was born in Co Cavan, and grew up in Mountmellick in Co Laois. After leaving school, he began work with a Mountmellick building contractor, with whom he moved in 1952 to Dublin, to build houses there. After further work in the electrical business, he joined the County Council in 1973, and worked for 22 years, first as a relief ... read more »» Featured Second Kilkenny CD Margaret Daisy Phelan Margaret Daisy Phelan grew up at No. 8 William Street, Kilkenny. She begins the recording by recalling her schooldays, and her real fascination for history from her earliest days. She graduated from University College Cork and won a scholarship to study in Paris for two years, but due to the Civil War in Ireland, she returned home after some ... read more »» Featured 1916 CD Nollaig O Gadhra (2 CDs) Nollaig O Gadhra is a well known historian, author and broadcaster and on hearing that I was working on recording "Recollections of 1916 and its Aftermath" he asked to be introduced to Dan Keating of Ballygamboon, of whom he had heard on many occasions. On Good Friday 2005 we sat down in Dan Keating's kitchen and began our work. Nollaig outlined ... read more »»

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• Libraries who have bought the Collections