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The Nellie Walsh Collection
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Songs of your county

Nellie Walsh published a column in 'Ireland's own' entitled 'Songs of your county' from the mid 1960s to just before her death in the mid 1990s. 'Songs of your county' included the lyrics of songs tied to 32 counties across Ireland, and each column was often dedicated to one specific county, though many included features from multiple. In order to find these songs, Walsh compiled lyrics from across the Island from her own experience, but also received submissions from citizens of songs they had heard throughout their lives. Though published only as ballad sheets, many of the songs were submitted or noted in tonic sol-fa, and occaisonally with accompanying staff notation. The two sub-series in this series show the published 'Songs of your county' column, and the handwritten notes that show how Walsh constructed her column, divided by county.

Clippings of Songs of your county

Clippings, mostly full pages of 'Songs of your country' plus two 'Ireland's own' supplements that are booklets dedicated to the songs of Kerry and Donegal, respectively. A selection of these clippings are without Nellie Walsh's byline, but the majority of them are Walsh's. Most of Walsh's have handwritten dates from 1986. Many pages are dedicated to one specific county, but the others combine songs from multiple areas across Ireland.

Published songs: Songs of your county

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.

Pasted Clippings of Songs of your county

Selections of Nellie Walsh's 'Ireland's own' column, either clipped from or photocopies of the magazine, pasted onto thick card that look like they could have been part of a scrapbook. Several are full pages of songs with Walsh's comments, but some are clipped individual songs.

Scrapbook B of Songs of your county

Thick bright red, paperbound scrapbook with the word 'Scrapbook' and a pair of scissors printed on the cover. Twelve pages of thick grey paper with individual clipped poems from 'Ireland's own' pasted onto both sides of each page.

Scrapbook A of Songs of your county

Unbound scrapbook entitled 'Songs from Ireland's own'. Each page numbered 1–75 by Nellie Walsh and contains numerous cuttings, manuscripts, etc. An eleven page index at the beginning shows the titles of the songs on each page, handwritten by Walsh, but with no discernible ordering principle.

Manuscript songs: Songs of your county

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.

Songs from Co. Galway

Handwritten, typescript, and newspaper clippings of song lyric sheets from Co. Galway, including one single vinyl sleeve for "Big Tom: Four country roads". A few transcribed by Nellie Walsh herself, but others sent to her or clipped from newspapers. Some attached to letters addressed to Walsh. Several related to Claddagh Ring but not all the same song.

Songs of your county. Song index

Nellie Walsh's handwritten index of songs included in 'Songs of your county', organised by county. There are four inserts taped into the book to add more songs to the index. There are numbers included next to each song or groups of songs that may refer to the issue or order in which she included them. Others have 'x's next to their names, perhaps indicating that she did not end up using that song in a column. Considering the completeness of this index, we can assume she kept it from the beginning to end of her column.
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