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Breandán Breathnach Collection
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Letters from Francis O’Neill to William Halpin

Letters from Capt. Francis O’Neill, 5448 Dreyfus Ave, Chicago to William Halpin, Newmarket on Fergus, Co. Clare. The letters refer to a number of uilleann pipers both resident in the United States of America, as well as, Ireland. These include Bernard Delaney and Patsy Touhey (Touhey, Patsy, 1865-1923), ‘two first class pipers’, Ireland’s ‘double prize winner’ Bob Thompson, ‘McAuliffe’, ‘Stephenson’, Charlie Ferguson, ‘Bishop O’Connor of Limerick’, ‘Bishop Touhy of Limerick’, ‘Andrews’, ‘Mr O’Mealy of Belfast’ (O’Mealy, Richard Lewis, 1873-1947) and Eddie Joyce. There are also references to other musicians including the fiddler John McFadden, who O’Neill describes as, ‘our best traditional fiddler’. The letters refer to phonograph piping records which O’Neill and Halpin exchange throughout the course of these letters. There are also a number of references to the Professor of Irish at University College, Cork and author of a number of books on Irish music, ‘Rev. Dr. [Richard] Henebry’ (Henebry, Richard, 1863-1916). O’Neill says that he is in correspondence with Henebry and has sent him a number of phonograph records also.

Breandán Breathnach Collection

  • BBR-18712
  • Fonds
  • 1911 - 1985
These fonds were largely created by Breandán Breathnach while he was chairman of the uilleann piping society, Na Píobairí Uilleann, from its establishment in 1968, right through the 1970s and into the early 1980s. The majority of the material dates from the decade 1968-1978. The first series contains letters from Francis O'Neill (O'Neill, Francis, 1848-1936) to William Halpin and letters from various individuals to Seán Reid (Reid, Seán, 1907-1978), mostly dating from the 1930s. It is most likely that the Seán Reid and Francis O'Neill letters were purchased by, or donated to, Breandán Breathnach in 1973 by Seán Reid after a request by Breathnach to deposit the originals in his newly established 'National Archives'. Breathnach wrote 'I am making so bold as to suggest you should donate these & other papers you might have to the National Archives new established in this Department or perhaps you would not mind offering them for sale' (M/187/3/3/2, 30 Oct 1973). These fonds also contain papers relating to Seán Ó Riada (Ó Riada, Seán, 1931-1971) from Len Clifford who seemed to be acting as an agent for ÓRiada during the early 1970s. It is not known how Breathnach came to be in possession of these papers, it is most likely that they were given to him as part of his national music archive project. The last series in this collection relates to the organisation Na Píobairí Uilleann. It includes correspondence and papers of a financial and administrative nature, as well as, documents relating to the organisation's various activities i.e. exhibitions, concerts, and pipe making.

Breathnach, Breandán, 1912-1985

Seán Reid

This series contains letters and ephemera which were originally in an envelope marked 'S. Reid’. Seán Reid was a fiddler and an uilleann piper, born in Castlefin, Co. Donegal he moved to Ennis in Co. Clare in 1937 and lived there for forty years. Along with Breandán Breathnach he was founder member of Na Píobairí Uilleann and played an important part in its evolution. The series contains five letters from the famous Irish American music collector, Francis O'Neill, (O'Neill, Francis, 1848-1936) to the uilleann piper William Halpin. Also included are letters, the majority written in 1937 and 1938, from various friends and relatives to Seán Reid (Reid, Seán, 1907-1978). Some letters are personal in nature, for example those from his mother and sister, ‘Kathleen’, but the majority include many references to music, musicians and uilleann piping in 1930s Ireland. There are also a number of items of ephemera relating to feiseanna & Irish music events.

Seán Reid Letters: 1927-1936

Letters from various friends and relatives to Seán Reid who between these years lived at a number of addresses including: Ormeau Road, Belfast; Hibernian Hotel, Borrisokane, Co Tipperary; 70 Haddington Road, Dublin and Royal Oak Road, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow. Letters from Seán Reid’s mother, Scarvagherin, Co Tyrone are personal in nature. Letters from Rev Leo Browne, Verdun, Montreal, refer to Reid as his ‘dear old sparring partner’ (6 Oct 1927), and Redmond [Nugent?], Erganagh, Castlederg, refer to training and boxing and talk about the ‘good old times’. Letters of a more musical nature with references to uilleann pipes, fiddles, and various Irish music publications including ‘O’Neill’s music for Piano & Violin’ and ‘Moore’s Melodies’ are exchanged with the following people: John Potts, 6 Watkins Blds., Off Ardee St, Dublin, who is glad to hear that Reid is ‘progressing with the pipes’; ‘John’, Spamount, Castlederg, [Co Tyrone]; ‘Brian’, 23 Salisbury Gardens, Belfast; D[enis] Dunphy, Spamount, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone; ‘M. McGlinchey’, R.U.C Barracks, York St, Belfast; ‘M. Foley’, Kuigh, Nenagh, Co Tipperary and ‘J. Leahy’, The Chalet, Ballinaclough, Nenagh. There are also two undated letters from Paddy Brennan and ‘R Freeman’, Dooleys Hotel, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow. The letter writers say that they ‘miss [Reid] a lot here, no pipes, no violin, nothing but the Gramophone to remind us of you.’

Seán Reid Letters

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).

Seán Reid Ephemera

Various items of ephemera including concert programmes, receipts and newspaper clippings. These relate to Feiseanna, Conradh na Gaeilge, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael (GAA) and An Cumann Gaelach, Queen's University Belfast. Included are a ‘Programme of Concert in New Cinema, Thurles, November 14th, 1935’ and ‘Clár Feis Charman 1936’.

Seán Reid Letters: 1937

Letters from various friends and relatives to Seán Reid who at this time is the ‘Assistant Road Surveyor’ in Ennis, Co. Clare. Letters are mostly addressed to John Reid, ‘Carmel’, Victoria Rd, Ennis, Co Clare. Letters are from, among others, ‘Jas. Leahy’, Mícheál de Búrca, E. J. McGrath, D[enis] Dunphy, ‘F? Dowling’, Tommie [Potts] (Potts, Tommie, 1912–1988), 6 Watkins Buildings, Ardee St, Dublin, John Potts, Mick Malone and Liam Ó Ceallaigh. Many letters contain references to musicians, feiseanna, céilí, music lessons, including a letter from ‘D Dunphy’ (6 May 1937) which encloses a programme for ‘Feis Thír-Eóghain 22nd-23rd May, 1937 in St Patrick’s Hall and Foresters’ Hall, Omagh.’ A letter from ‘Tommie [Potts]’ (22 July 1937) makes reference to a recent feis win by Reid ‘all of us were delighted to hear of your fiddling success’ and in a letter from John Potts (11 August 1937) he lists a number of his current uilleann pipe students including ‘Fr Jones’, ‘Bro Gildas’, ‘Mr Andrews’ and Mr Kearney’.

Card Indexes

This series is made up of three Thematic Indexes to Irish Dance Music which was compiled on index cards by Breandán Breathnach over a period of thirty years. The index controls about five or six thousand dance tunes in manuscripts, books and on sound recordings. It provides names for tunes without titles, gives the printed history of the tunes, and lists the appearance of tunes in various sources.
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