Archives of Irish America United Irish Counties Association Collection
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Creator
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Language of Materials
Abstract
The United Irish Counties Association organized in 1904 as an attempt to reunite again all Irish under one umbrella organization. The UICA aims to promote and preserve Irish heritage and culture. Its Annual Feis brings together Irish talent for a celebration of music, dance, and song. The collection consists of annual Feis programs, newspaper clippings, papers from Irish Institute, and photographs of United Irish County Societies activities.
Historical/Biographical Note
Irish county organizations were first organized in New York City in the late 1840s. The early societies were for the most part purely social organizations, but in the 1870s some of them started to offer benefits for sickness and death. As the Irish settled into different areas of the city, individual county societies became more prevalent. With the growth of Irish sports, these county societies were even more important. The United Irish Counties Association organized in 1904 as the Irish Counties Athletic Union, as an organization to coordinate and provide venues for sporting events and dances. The goal was to reunite the individual Irish Societies under one umbrella organization, to establish a "central unit of administration to guide and coordinate the activities of the Irish County Organizations," according to the history written by James Comerford, former President of the UICA. (See Box 3, Folder 18.) In 1907, the name was changed to United Irish Counties Association (UICA) with the aim of providing more Irish activities in addition to sports and dances. The purpose of the UICA as articulated in its incorporation papers is to "aid and encourage the members of the Irish race in this State (New York) in taking advantage of all the educational and business opportunities; to furnish information and advice to them on all matters relating to high schools, night schools, trade schools, civil service and commercial opportunities." The organization also promotes activities to preserve and promote the traditional culture if the Irish. This is realized in the Feis, an annual celebration of Irish music, dance, song and athletics.
For more information, visit: http://www.uicany.org/United_Irish_Counties/History.html
Arrangement
Files are organized alphabetically. The Annual event seems to have changed names between "ball" and "dance" over the years; these files are organized chronologically.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of souvenir journals from the annual dinners and dances of the Association. Also included are programs and documentation on the Feis, a festival celebrating Irish culture and music. A scrapbook kept by Rosalie Fitzpatrick on the Feis is also included in the collection. The unbound scrapbook contains originals and photocopies of many of the Feis programs as well as newspaper clippings and articles. One of the articles is written by Ms. Fitzpatrick herself in response to an article written by a Ms. Miller on the meaning and tradition of the Feis. Also of interest is a history of the UICA written by James Comerford, one-time President of the Association. A copy of the article is contained in Ms. Fitzpatrick's scrapbook (Box 3, Folder 18).
Subjects
Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
The Tamiment Library does not have information about who owns copyright to this collection. Materials in this collection are expected to enter the public domain in 2127. The Tamiment Library is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; United Irish Counties Association Records; AIA 056; box number; folder number;
Archives of Irish America, Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
An additional acceretion was donated by Martin Kearns, June 2018. The accession number associated with this gift is 2018.103.
In March 2025, Marion Casey donated an accretion of ephemera, photographs, and objects; the accession number associated with this transfer is 2025.036.
Custodial History
In 1998, Martin Kearns donated materials collected by Peter Nesdale, which had been sent to him by Mel Keighran. This gift included records from the 1940s-1950s and commemorative buttons. Rita and Jim Fitzpatrick sent a gift of annual feis programs, newspaper clippings, papers from Irish Institute, and photographs of United Irish County Societies activities. Accession number associated with the Fitzpatrick gift is 2012.030.
A photograph of the 1944 installation of officers was donated by Brian McGinn in 2011.
About this Guide
Processing Information
In February 2022, an unprocessed box of materials originally housed in a transfile box was processed, arranged, and rehoused into archival folders and manuscript boxes by an archivist. The finding aid was updated to reflect the incorporation of these items.
In April 2025, an accretion of ephemera, photographs, and objects was rehoused in an archival box and folders, and intellectually added to the collection's alphabetic inventory. One Ladies Auxiliary cape was frozen as a preventive conservation measure.
