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.

New Digitised Format A Master Catalogue in two Volumes with Index, has been compiled in hard copy, which includes information on all 1,600 recordings compiled in the Irish Life and Lore Series since 1994. Digitised versions of all of the recording and catalogues have also been produced - the recordings are in 128kbps mp3 audio format and the catalogues are in pdf format. For more information on this new digitised format, please contact us. Irish Life and Lore Collection Launches The Fleischmann Collection will be launched at the in Cork on 13th April 2010. This Collection celebrates the life and work of the late Aloys Fleischmann, composer and Professor of Music UCC in his centenary year. The Meath Collection and the Donegal Collection will be launched in Spring 2010. The Falkland Islands Collection, compiled in November 2009 and funded by the Shackleton Scholarship Fund, and additonal funds raised locally, is now completed. Irish Life and Lore Photographic Exhibition This very popular exhibition is now in on display in Skibbereen Library in West Cork, having spent several months at the National Museum of Country Life in Mayo. Irish Life and Lore on Lyric FM Lyric FM will broadcast two features on the late Aloys Fleischmann and his work, using some of the Irish Life and Lore recordings, on Saturday 3rd and Saturday 10th April at 7pm. (96-99FM). Irish Life and Lore Books Work is well underway on a new book relating to ten of the recordings compiled by Maurice O'Keeffe in Cork City over the past two years. The book is edited by Jane O'Keeffe and will be published in early Summer, 2010. The new Irish Life and Lore Master Catalogue, in two volumes with index, is now available. Liberties Press in Dublin recently published "Written in Stone" by former Kilmainham Jail archivist, Niamh O'Sullivan. The book 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. Sample Audio from the Fingal Collection Listen to an hour of audio snippets from the recently published Fingal (North Dublin Collection. Sample Audio from the Fingal 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 Collections of recordings with relevant catalogues are also available in digitised format.

Some special Collections have also been compiled: Cork Institute of Technology Collection, 1916 Collection, Bord na Móna Collection and Falkland Islands Collection.

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 Judy Sinnott Judy Sinnott was recorded at her home in Murntown and she speaks initially about her schooldays and her first job serving behind the counter of a confectionery business run by her aunt and her mother. This was also an eating-house, which did quite good business during the war years. Directly after the war she went to England to continue her ... read more »» Featured Cork City CD Sister Berchmans Bridie Murphy grew up in Church Street, Abbeyfeale in West Limerick. She has very happy memories of the people and places in the town, and her own days in the local school, after which she joined the Presentation Sisters on 7th September 1935, at Presentation Covent in Turners Cross, where she was to spend the rest of her life. She speaks about ... read more »» Featured North Dublin CD Henry Maude Henry Maude grew up in Swords and he retains vivid memories of his investigations of the underground passageways which lead from the Castle to the Round Tower. He recalls the farmers of Rush coming to Swords on Market Day, the sports which included tennis and cricket and the divisions in the community between Catholics and Protestants. He speaks ... 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 Jane O'Neill Jane O’Neill grew up in a council cottage, one of 14 children. Due to the size of the family, she was brought up by her grandmother. Her father worked in the coal mines, and he was the first man to reach the coal face when the Deerpark coal mine was opened in the 1920s. He died at a young age of silicosis, as did many of the other miners. Jane’s ... read more »» Featured 1916 CD Eileen Sprague I was first introduced to Eileen Sprague in Killarney during the autumn of 2000 and I recorded her recollections at that time, and as she reminisced it became obvious to me that her memory was excellent with regard to historical detail of events in the early days of the 20th century in Dublin city. Shortly afterwards I paid a return visit to ... read more »»

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