Skip to main content Skip to main navigation

Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Papers

Call Number

AIA.031.003

Dates

1806-2014, inclusive
; 1975-2000, bulk

Creator

Moloney, Mick, 1944-2022

Extent

37.5 Linear Feet
in 34 record cartons, 1 manuscript box, 2 oversize flat boxes, and 5 flat files folders

Extent

2 websites
in two archived websites.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English

Abstract

The Mick Moloney Irish-American and Popular Culture Papers are a subcollection of the Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Collection consisting of papers acquired and produced in the course of Moloney's career as a folklorist, producer, musician, and academic. The papers include research, administrative, and personal files; materials related to song and music collection; concert posters, programs, and other memorabilia; and photographs related to all aspects of Moloney's professional life.

Biographical Note

Dr. Mick Moloney (1944-2022) was a musician, folklorist, and Global Distinguished Professor of Music and Irish Studies at New York University. He immigrated to the United States in 1973, earning a Ph.D. in folklore and folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. He recorded and produced over forty albums of traditional music, acted as advisor for scores of festivals and concerts, and served as artistic director for the musical ensemble The Green Fields of America. In 1999, Moloney was awarded the National Heritage Award of the National Endowment of the Arts, the highest official honor of traditional artist can receive in the United States.

Moloney is the author of Far from the Shamrock Shore (2002) and numerous essays on Irish music and musical culture, and the co-editor of Close to the Floor: Irish Dance from the Boreen to Broadway (2009).

Sources:
Steve Winnick, "From Limerick Rake to Solid Man: The Musical Life of Mick Moloney," Dirty Linen, No. 48 (October/November 1993)
1999 NEA National Heritage Fellowships: http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=1999_11
Mick Moloney, Musician and Folklorist: http://www.mickmoloney.com

Arrangement

This subcollection is arranged in seven series. All of the series are arranged alphabetically, with the exception of Series V. Concert Memoribilia, which is arranged chronologically.

  1. Series I: General, 1806-2011
  2. Series II: Individuals, 1879-2010
  3. Series III: Academic, 1889-2011
  4. Series IV: Song and Music Collecting, 1867-2000
  5. Series V: Concert Memorabilia, 1971-2011
  6. Series VI: Photographs, circa 1930-2002
  7. Series VII: Archived Websites, 2014-ongoing

Scope and Content Note

The Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Papers document Dr. Moloney's academic, professional, and performative interests and activities. This subcollection consists of research, administrative, and personal files; scholarly literature on folklore and ethnicity; materials related to song and music collecting; concert posters, programs, and other memorabilia; and photographs. The materials illustrate themes such as immigration and assimilation viewed through the lens of Irish-America's engagement with and expression of its own popular culture, with specific emphasis on its musical traditions. The time period most heavily documented in this subcollection (1975-2000) witnessed both a reinvestment by Irish-America in its cultural traditions and a transition of its musical traditions from the home to the stage, accompanied by unprecedented national recognition. The subcollection illustrates the shifts in policies regarding arts funding and programming; the valorization of ethnicity in the United States during the late 20th century; the rise in prominence of female performers of traditional music; and the Irish presence on and repertoire of the Philadelphia and New York music scenes.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research with the exception of student papers located in Series III. The student papers are closed until 2053.

Use Restrictions

Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection created by Mick Moloney are held by him. Permission to publish or reproduce materials to which he holds copyright must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Tamiment Library, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Papers, AIA 031.003; box number; folder or item number; Archives of Irish America; Tamiment Library, New York University Libraries.

To cite the archived website in this collection: Identification of item, date; Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Papers, AIA 031.003; Wayback URL; Archives of Irish America; Tamiment Library, New York University.

Custodial History Note

New York University's Division of Libraries, in conjunction with Glucksman Ireland House at New York University, purchased the Mick Moloney Collection for the Archives of Irish America in 2006. Until the Collection was transferred to New York University, under the supervision of Dr. Michael Nash, Head of the Tamiment Library, the materials were stored in Dr. Moloney's house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The accession numbers associated with this collection are 2006.071 and 2010.019.

http://mickmoloney.com/index.html was initially selected by curators and captured through the use of The California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service in 2014 as part of the Arts and Cultural Left Web Archive. n 2015, this website was migrated to Archive-It. Archive-It uses web crawling technology to capture websites at a scheduled time and displays only an archived copy, from the resulting WARC file, of the website. In 2019, http://mickmoloney.com/ was added to the web archive to replace http://mickmoloney.com/index.html. The accession number associated with this website is 2019.130.

Appraisal

Archived websites are made accessible for purposes of education and research. NYU Libraries have given attribution to rights holders when possible; however, due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information.

If you hold the rights to materials in our archived websites that are unattributed, please let us know so that we may maintain accurate information about these materials.

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material on this website for which you have not granted permission (or is not covered by a copyright exception under US copyright laws), you may request the removal of the material from our site by submitting a notice, with the elements described below, to the special.collections@nyu.edu.

Please include the following in your notice: Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material; your contact information, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; a statement that you are the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed and that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and made under penalty of perjury; and your physical or electronic signature. Upon receiving a notice that includes the details listed above, we will remove the allegedly infringing material from public view while we assess the issues identified in your notice.

Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

The Mick Moloney Irish American Music and Popular Culture Collection is composed of five parts. Taken together, they illustrate Dr. Moloney's career long engagement with Irish-American culture across a wide variety of media with a particular focus on Irish and Irish-American music.

Mick Moloney Irish American Music and Popular Culture Commercial Recordings (AIA 031.1)

Mick Moloney Irish American Music and Popular Culture Field Recordings (AIA 031.2)

Mick Moloney Irish American Music and Popular Culture Irish Americana (AIA 031.4)

Mick Moloney Irish American Music and Popular Culture Videotapes (AIA 031.5)

Dorothy Hayden Cudahy Irish Memories Collection (AIA 001) Susan McKeown Papers (AIA 032)

Collection processed by

Brendan Dolan

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-02-06 13:55:18 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English

Processing Information Note

The original order of series I-IV was maintained except in the case of obvious misfiling. Dr. Moloney employed numerous people to organize his papers prior to accession with unpredictable results. Series VI: Photos had been made into a separate subcollection (AIA 031.006), but was later integrated into the Papers subcollection.

In 2014, the archived website was added as Series VII. An additional website was added to the finding aid in 2019.

Revisions to this Guide

November 2019: edited by Nicole Greenhouse to reflect additional administrative information and added archived websites
March 2022: edited by Aki Snyder to reflect updated box information
August 2022: edited by Anna Björnsson McCormick to update conditions governing access

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012