Archives

The Society’s library houses more than 10,000 volumes, the most complete private collection of Irish and American Irish history and literature in the United States. The library features a temperature-controlled rare books room that holds another 1,000 volumes, and an unparalleled collection of newspapers and newsletters dating back to the late-18th century, and several early and mid-19th century newspapers, such as The Nation, The United Irishman, and the Dublin Penny Journal. Also housed in the library is the Society’s unique collection of letters from Patrick Pearse and Charles Stewart Parnell, the irreplaceable archives of other societies and organizations, and the personal papers of leading Irish Americans like Daniel F. Cohalan. The collection is complemented by works of art from such noted Irish artists as Nathaniel Hone, John Faulkener, George Russell (A.E.), John Butler Yeats, Aloysius O’Kelly, and Augustus St. Gaudens. The Society also holds an extensive collection of Irish music, including a taped interview with Brendan Behan that became his Confessions of a Rebel.