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 Jurgen & Helga Sassmannshausen This recording begins with memories of the years of the Second World War in Berlin, where Jurgen Sassmannshausen was brought up. He and Helga married in 1964 and came to Wexford in 1971 to set up a home and business, and Jurgen provides the reasons why they chose Wexford as the location for their factory which produced miniature light bulbs. He ... read more »» Featured Cork City CD Mary Rohan No. 3 This recording begins with Mary Rohan’s account of the political situation in Ireland after the formation of the Free State and her career in secondary teaching in the Ursuline Convent in Limerick city. She discusses how difficult it was at that time for a lay person to get a teaching job because of the great number of teaching nuns. Mary ... read more »» Featured North Dublin CD Nancy Dempsey No. 1 Olien Moran and Connie Crean (nee Cullen) are twin sisters, and their friend Nancy Dempsey (nee Dockrell) grew up in Portrane. The recording was made at Nancy`s home and began with the histories of both families, and memories of schooldays in the 1930`s and the Emergency Period. They recalled the performances of the travelling players, and dances ... read more »» Featured South Dublin CD Maureen Phibbs This interview begins with Maureen Phibbs recalling her schooldays in Cullen, north Cork and her own family, the Hickeys. She speaks about her time spent in Birmingham, where she worked with many immigrants. Her story reveals the importance of her work was during the sixties and seventies, when there was mass emigration from Ireland to ... read more »» Featured Second Kilkenny CD Eddie Keher Eddie Keher was recorded at his home in the lovely village of Inistiogue where he graciously placed on record his recollections of his glory days on the hurling field. The recording begins with memories of his parents. His father was a Sergeant in the Garda Siochana who came from Roscommon. His mother`s father, Ned Brown, joined the Hong Kong ... read more »» Featured 1916 CD Archdeacon Blennerhassett I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Archdeacon Blennerhassett some years ago, and I have always admired his great knowledge of local history, and in particular the history of Tralee town in the early part of the 20th century. Rowland Blennerhassett was born in Caherina, Tralee in 1909, and his father George was Secretary of McCowan's ... read more »»

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  from the recordings.

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• Libraries who have bought the Collections