Dossier CMA-240167/1/1 - The O'Connell Collection

The O'Connell Collection containing 212 tunes was sourced from Pat O'Connell (known locally as Patin, pronounced locally as Patch-een) Connell (without the O') a small farmer from the townland of Cordal. Patin was a pupil of Pádraig and kept his mss in two biscuit tins in the kitchen. He was a near neighbour of Pádraig and remembered him with great affection. He lent Caoimhín his collection in full which Caoimhín took away to Cork where he was living at the time. Caoimhín was not able to photocopy them but copied each one meticulously using stencils and Rotring drafting pens. The tablature was copied in this way and the transcriptions into staff notation were made subsequently. As Caoimhín finished off a batch of 20 or so mss he would post the originals back to Patin who received all in full in return.