Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Videotapes
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Abstract
These videotapes are part of the larger Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Collection. This sub-collection consists of VHS cassettes, Beta videocassette tapes, and U-Matic videocassettes acquired in the course of Dr. Moloney's career as a folklorist, producer, musician, and academic. The tapes include amateur and professional recordings of Dr. Moloney's performances, extensive documentation of the 1987 International Village Fair, commercial videotapes collected as teaching aids, and videotapes used as masters and safeties for recording sessions.
Historical/Biographical Note
Dr. Mick Moloney (1944-) is 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 has 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
The videotapes are arranged in one series, Series I: Videotapes, 1982-2000. The series is arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Content Note
These videotapes are part of the larger Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Collection. This sub-collection consists of VHS cassettes, Beta videocassette tapes, and U-Matic videocassettes acquired in the course of Dr. Moloney's career as a folklorist, producer, musician, and academic. The tapes include amateur and professional recordings of Dr. Moloney's performances, extensive documentation of the 1987 International Village Fair, commercial videotapes collected as teaching aids, and videotapes used as masters and safeties for recording sessions. 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.
The majority of the videotapes document Moloney's live performances, including those at Irish and folk festivals held in Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. (Glen Echo), and the Augusta Heritage Center's Irish Week at Elkins College, West Virginia. Dr. Moloney's involvement in the International Village Fair; his touring ensemble, the Green Fields of America; and his collaboration with Robbie O'Connell and Jimmy Keane, are particularly well represented. Some tapes contains audio masters and safety copies of recording sessions for Dr. Moloney and the traditional ensemble Cherish the Ladies. Other items of note include broadcasts, tapes related to Moloney's package tours of Ireland, and a recording of the ceremony at which Moloney received the National Heritage Fellowship Award in 1999.
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Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
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 for assistance with contacting Mick Moloney.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Videotapes; AIA 031.005; box number; tape number; Archives of Irish America;
Tamiment Library, New York University Libraries.
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 of Irish-American Music and Popular Culture for the Archives of Irish America in 2006. Until transfer to Bobst Library under the supervision of its Head of Collections, Dr. Michael Nash, the materials in this collection were stored in Dr. Moloney's house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The accession numbers associated with this collection are 2006.071 and 2010.019.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
The tapes are in three formats: VHS cassette, Beta cassette and U-Matic cassette.
Researchers interested in using audiovisual materials in this collection (films, cassette tapes, VHS tapes, et cetera) must use a digitized copy, which we refer to as an access copy. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that already have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room; materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. These requests are free of charge and can be made in anticipation of your visit. The process typically takes four to six weeks. To request an access copy be made, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A librarian will respond to you with further information.
