Collection LQU-18762 - Louis Quinn Collection

Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 1 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 2 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 3 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 4 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 5 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 6 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 7 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 8 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 9 Louis Quinn Collection.  Reel-to-Reel 44 [sound recording] / [various performers]. Track 10
Results 1 to 10 of 2412 Show all

Identity area

Reference code

LQU-18762

Title

Louis Quinn Collection

Date(s)

  • 1950-1975 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

76 audio recordings

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Louis Eamon Quinn was born in 1904 in Newtownhamilton, Co., Armagh. He had a few lessons with a local fiddler, Henry Savage, before emigrating to Canada in 1928. Finding his way to New York in 1931, he quickly became acclimated to the Irish music scene. He became friendly with many of the top musicians of the time, including the legendary fiddlers Michael Coleman, James Morrison, and James “Lad” O’Beirne, with whom he maintained a lifetime association, the two of them forming one of the most accomplished fiddle duos ever.

During the 1930’s, Louis hosted a weekly Irish radio program. With few organized music clubs in existence at the time, the traditional music scene revolved around impromptu sessions and Louis Quinn was a regular participant in most of them in New York. In the 1950’s, with the late Ed Reavy of Philadelphia and the late Frank Thornton of Chicago, both also among the most respected traditional musicians, Louis helped establish the first national organization for Irish music in America, the “Irish Musicians Association,” becoming its first President and National Chairman. This united organization provided a network of clubs that fostered the Irish traditional music so enjoyed by the Irish community and the I.M.A. grew rapidly, with many branches forming in New York, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Long Island. Among them was the Louis E. Quinn Branch, founded in 1959 in Mineola. With Louis instrumental in incorporating the I.M.A.’s branches into Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann in the early 1970’s, that club, still centered in Mineola, became the Mulligan-Quinn Branch of Comhaltas.

Throughout his life, Louis Quinn was a dedicated and able ambassador for Irish music and culture on both sides of the Atlantic. He was singularly responsible for promoting and popularizing the music of his friend Ed Reavy both in America and Ireland, including recording two of Reavy’s reels on a Rounder records tribute album issued in 1979. Countless musicians, both Irish and American born, have been greatly helped in their careers by the tireless efforts of Louis Quinn to keep the spirit and traditions of the Irish alive and well. Louis Quinn died in March 1991, just shy of his 87th birthday.

Louis and Mary Quinn’s five sons, Sean, Brian, Kevin, Louis Jnr, and Pat, and two daughters, Mary Lou and Kathleen, have added to his musical legacy by their own successes playing Irish traditional music and performing and teaching step-dancing.

Archival history

Original reel-to-reel tapes were loaned to ITMA for copying by Sean Quinn. The tapes were digitised to CD-R at an unknown date. CD-R copies were transferred to Broadcast WAV files by Memnon Archiving Services, Brussels in 2019.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Collection of reel-to-reel sound recordings made on trips to Ireland by the Armagh-born, New York-based musician Louis Quinn.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Users may not have access to original recordings, but may access digital surrogate onsite at ITMA, 73 Merrion Square.

Conditions governing reproduction

In copyright

Language of material

  • English
  • Irish

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

IE ITMA

Rules and/or conventions used

ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description. 2 nd ed. Ottawa: International Council on Archives, 2000.
Irish Guidelines for Archival Description. Ireland: Society of Archivists, 2009
Anglo-American cataloguing rules. 2nd ed., 1988 revision. Ottawa : Chicago: Canadian Library Association.

Status

Level of detail

Partial

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Mid-Atlantic Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann website, https://www.cce-ma.com/louis-quinn (accessed 14 August 2019)

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related genres

Related places