Letters addressed to John Reid (Reid, Seán, 1907-1978) from various correspondents including musicians John Potts, who taught Reid the uilleann pipes, Tommie Potts (Potts, Tommie, 1912-1988) and Brother Gildas (Ó Sé, Pádraig, ? 1881-1960).
This subseries contains correspondence, accounts book, membership lists, receipts, meeting minutes, rules and objective documents, insurance policies, rent notices, bills and equipment manuals relating to the early years of Na Píobairí Uilleann, particularly to the period when their premises was located at 32 East Essex Street, Dublin 2.
This subseries relates to the various activities carried out by Na Píobairí Uilleann to promote their organisation, as well as, the art of uilleann piping and pipe making. These activities include the publication of it newsletter An Píobaire, exhibitions on uilleann piping, the promotion of the uilleann pipes through participation in music competitions like Feis Ceoil and the establishment of pipe making companies throughout Ireland.
General correspondence from uilleann pipers, other musicians, academic researchers and Irish music enthusiasts from Ireland, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Australia and the United States of America. Many of the correspondents request information on membership to Na Píobairí Uilleann, they look for information about piping classes, about where they can buy uilleann pipes and about pipe and reed making classes. Letter writers also requests to buy the society’s publications including tutor books, the journals Ceol & An Píobaire and request to purchase cane, hemp and reeds. They also look for information on contemporary and historical uilleann pipers, sound recordings and sheet music and seek answers to technical questions about chanter and reed making. Many letters contain information about uilleann pipes, pipers, reed making and pipe manufacturing. Some letters compliment Breandán Breathnach on his publications. Regular correspondents include Tom Busby, Martin Cooney, Wilbert Garvin, Robbie Hannan, Robert McMahon, Pat McNulty, Bill Ochs, Theodor Podnos, Ronnie Wathen. There are also some letters relating to the early years of the Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. Undated letters are filed at the end of the series.
Selections from Nellie Walsh's published column in 'Ireland's Own', 'Songs of your county'. She appears to have constructed three scrapbooks of her work, and clipped out the majority of her columns either for inclusion in these scrapbooks or to keep as a collection. These are mostly clipped straight from the magazine, but some are photocopied. The columns are undated, but Walsh ran her column from the 1960s to 1990s.
Bound music manuscript books, handwritten by Nellie Walsh, in both A4 staff notation books and smaller notebooks with lyrics and some tonic sol-fa. These are collections of songs unattributed to counties or dates, but each titled. They likely helped her when constructing her 'Songs of your county' column, but were also likely for her own personal use.
Series of song manuscripts from and organised by the 32 counties of Ireland. Many are handwritten by Nellie Walsh herself, sometimes on the back of scraps of paper including envelopes, postcards, bank statements, and typescript notes or memos from the Old Wexford Society, for which Walsh was Honorary Secretary. Several songs are attributed to their writers, with the most belonging to the writer/composer duo John Nestor and Brian Driscoll and writer Dan McEntee. Most of the county files include letters requesting or submitting song, and many of those letters are attached to the song about which they are discussing. Although Walsh published her 'Songs of your county' column from the mid 1960s until the mid 1990s, the songs she compiled appear to date back to the late 1800s. The date range included here is 1898–1989 to account for the dates written on both the songs collected and the letters sent to Walsh to submit songs. The majority of the songs and letters are not individually dated.
Audiovisual recordings of singing sessions, and recordings of individual singers made in public and private venues in Ireland and England, attended by Jimmy McBride, 1983-1991.
