Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann - North American Province

The North American Archive Committee:

Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann is an international organization that promotes Irish music, song, dance, and language. The approximately fifty branches in North America perform the collection and documentation functions, and archivable materials are stored in a professionally managed archive. The CCE North American Archive Committee is a staff function of the North American Province of Comhaltas.The North American Comhaltas Archive was established at the ProvincialConvention in April, 2001 under the direction and guidance of then chair, Frank Kennedy. The archive committee consists of the following:

Committee Structure and Duties

1. Chairperson - who provides coordination, project definition, and liaison with repositories. Other duties include annual status report, plans and budget. The archive chairperson reports on a direct staff line to the N. Am. Provincial Chair. Current archive chair is Ted McGraw.

2. Consultants - experts in various disciplines such as audio, video, photography, etc. This is an advisory group who may or may not be Comhaltas members, and can be called on to provide advice on an as needed basis.

3. Project leaders - who are mostly branch and regional personnel who perform collection & documentation activities. Duties include suggesting and helping to define specific projects, data collection, and documentation.

Comhaltas Repositories in North America

Professional archives were chosen as repositories in North America out of necessity. Comhaltas does not own any real property and archivable material, by its very nature, needs special care for storage. The goal is to select organizations that provide the following:

1. Staffed with archivists and/or librarians.

2. Provide professional cataloging functions to world wide standards.

3. Provide facilities for long term care of materials according to existing technical quidelines.

4. Provide the systems, processes, and controls necessay to make materials available locally and world wide within the limits of international copyright law.

The selection of the Irish Music Center at Boston College fulfills all 4 of those goals.

 An on-line catalog lists the Comhaltas donations. Further details are available from these contacts:  www.bc.edu/imc  and  imc@bc.edu

The IMC (Irish Music Center) collection At Boston College is even more appropriate because the Comhaltas Collection is just part of a much larger collection that is available to students of the world famous Irish Studies Program at the College.

Other professional archives in north America continue to be evaluated as possible partners for Comhaltas archives.

Other Comhaltas Archives

In Ireland, Comhaltas owns/operates several facilities. Some of these house various types of collections. For a complete list, check the international web site:  www.comhaltas.com

Other Applicable Collections

The Ted McGraw Collection listed on this website is a private collection started by Ted in 1952. We have made several donations of archivable material to Comhaltas facilities in Counties Cork, Clare, Sligo, and Dublin and to the Comhaltas collection at Boston College. We have been able to help many researchers and are in constant contact with collectors world wide. We are especially proud to have been able to help many members of artists families obtain old recordings of their relatives. These collecting activities, radio shows, and the web site are maintained by Ted on a completely voluntary basis. Home page of this site: Home

Ted McGraw, 7/9/07