Irish Echo Photographs
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Abstract
The Irish Echo is a nationally circulated Irish-American newspaper published weekly in New York City since 1928. The paper covers political, social, entertainment, and sports news from both Ireland and Irish America, in addition to national and international content from the perspective of the Irish American community. This collection consists of photographic prints, transparencies, photo negatives, and photographic slides used to produce the Irish Echo. Common subjects documented within this collection include Irish and Irish American politicians, society events, sporting events, musical groups, arts and cultural events, as well as visiting celebrities and dignitaries.
Historical Note
The Irish Echo is a nationally circulated ethnic newspaper published weekly in New York City.The paper was founded in 1928 by Charles Connolly, a native of County Monaghan. In 1955, Patrick J. Grimes, a native of County Offaly, purchased the paper, which was subsequently run by members of the Grimes family for the remainder of the twentieth century. In 2002 the newspaper was sold to Irish businessman Sean Finlay, who sold it to the Belfast Media Group in 2007. Máirtin Ó Muilleoir is the current CEO and publisher.
The paper covers political, social, entertainment, and sporting news from both Ireland and Irish America, with a robust classified section targeted at domestic help, legal notices, and construction employment. News stories featured in most daily newspapers also often received coverage, from the perspective of the Irish American community.
Sources:
Claire Grimes, "History of the Irish Echo," New York Irish History 8 (1993-1994)
A Salute To 75 Years of the Irish Echo (NY: Irish Echo, 2003)
James V. O'Connor, Resisting the Melting Pot through Ethnic Newspapers: History and Function of the Irish Echo (Ph.D., Temple University, 2008)
Patrick Farrelly and Eamon Lynch, "Censorship at the Irish Echo," The Blanket: A Journal of Protest and Disssent, 20 June 2003, online at http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu:81/censorshipie.html
Arrangement
The collection is organized into seven series, five of which have been further arranged into subseries. All series and subseries are arranged alphabetically. The arrangement of the materials is as follows:
Series I: Irish America, 1936-2004
Subseries I.A: Organizations: General, 1937-2004
Subseries I.B: Politics, 1966-2001
Subseries I.C: Subjects, circa 1930-1936, 1967-2004
Subseries I.D: Sports, 1936, 1951-2001
Series II: Ireland, 1959-2004
Subseries II.A: Tourism, 1957-2003
Subseries II.B: Business, 1964-2003
Subseries II.C: Politics, 1959-2004
Subseries II.D: Sports, 1975-1996
Subseries II.E: Subjects, 1919, 1969-2002
Series III: United States, 1940-2004
Subseries III.A: Business, 1977-2002
Subseries III.B: Politics, 1940-2006
Subseries III.C: Sports, 1970-2004
Subseries III.D: Subjects, 1970-2003
Series IV: The Irish Echo Staff, 1971-2004
Series V: Artists, circa 1938-2004
Subseries V.A: Artists, 1925-2004
Subseries V.B: Bands, 1960-2004
Series VI: Film, Television, and Theatre, 1952, 1970-2004
Subseries VI.A: Film and Television, 1952, 1970-2001
Subseries VI.B: Theatre, 1970-2004
Series VII: Individuals, circa 1960-2004
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of photographic prints, transparencies, photo negatives, and photographic slides used to produce the Irish Echo, but is not limited to images published in the newspaper. The majority of the images in the collection were submitted by the Irish Echo staff and contract photographers, although some photographs were sent to the paper by unsolicited individuals. Photographers for the Irish Echo featured in this collection include John Bourke, Peter Dolan, Kevin Kennedy, Tom Matthews, and Michael O'Rourke. Also represented, particularly in Series V: Artists and Series VI: Film, Television, and Theatre, are publicity photographs from a variety of sources, including public relations firms and production studios.
The majority of photographs featured in the Irish Echo's photo morgue document Irish and Irish American people and communities, news events, and subjects throughout the greater New York City area. The collection also features numerous American and international figures and organizations interacting with Irish American communities. Politicians, society events, sporting events, schools and youth organizations, musical groups, arts and cultural events, as well as visiting celebrities and dignitaries are among the most common subjects documented throughout the collection.
The files are particularly rich in images related to Irish immigration and American assimilation processes during the latter half of the 20th century. Numerous images of Irish and Irish American communities and their leaders provide visual documentation of the ways in which these populations negotiated their dual identities and transmuted cultural traditions. Furthermore, the materials featured in this collection provide insight on editorial decisions regarding the prioritization of news, specifically as it pertains to content.
The majority of the collection consists of images taken in the United States, with the exception of Series II, which documents tourism, business, politics, sports, and various other topics specific to Ireland. Additionally, there is no distinction made within Series V - VII between Irish and American origins. For example, images in Series V: Artists, include photographs taken of American artists in Ireland as well as of Irish artists in America. Due to the multifaceted nature of the collection's images, individual events, people, or subjects may appear in multiple locations throughout the collection or within a single series.
Many of the prints show permanent evidence of their use, including crop marks, retouching by highlighting or shading, or other manipulation of the image. These marks are part of the record of a working newspaper and have been preserved as part of the history of theIrish Echo's photograph morgue. With the advent of digital photography and other technologies, the quantity of photos included in the collection declines beginning in the late 1990s, continuing steadily downward to 2004, which represents the latest date in the collection.
Subjects
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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 the Irish Echo are held by the newspaper. Permission to publish or reproduce materials to which they hold copyright must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Tamiment Library for assistance with contacting the Irish Echo.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Irish Echo Photographs; AIA 045; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition Note
The Irish Echo's photo morgue was donated to the Archives of Irish America when the newspaper moved its editorial offices from midtown Manhattan to lower Manhattan in the summer of 2006. The accession number associated with this gift is 2007.045. Further additions to the collection were received by the archives in 2012.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. Born-digital materials have not been transferred and may not be available to researchers. Researchers may request access copies. To request that material be transferred, or if you are unsure if material has been transferred, please contact Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Sponsor Note
Detailed processing and encoding for this collection was made possible by a grant from the Irish government's Department of Foreign Affairs, Emigrant Support Programme.
About this Guide
Processing Information Note
Professor of Irish Studies Marion Casey boxed the Irish Echo's photo morgue at the newspaper's current offices in lower Manhattan before transferring the collection to the Archives of Irish America. Although there was not any consistent order to the photographs, there was evidence of an attempt to organize individuals and subjects alphabetically, in addition to sporadic efforts in the 1970s through 1990s to group all photographs by the month in which they were published in the newspaper. In an effort to assist discovery and retrieval independent of the newspaper's content, a decision was made to solidify an alphabetical arrangement based on individuals, organizations, and subjects. The distinction between Ireland, Irish America, and the United States is original to the arrangement of materials at the newspaper's office – and is particularly pronounced with regards to politics and sports - and has been preserved in the series arrangement.
During processing, notations identifying individuals and the approximate dates of particular events were made in pencil on the backs of photographs. Additionally, many photos bear a notation such as "Pre-1970s, 1980s Box;" it should be noted that no such box exists. Finally, during the arranging process, some smaller sized photographs were separated and housed in snapshot boxes; snapshots comprise Boxes #14 - #19. Also removed were slides, oversize photographs, and oversize color separations, which are now located in Boxes 20, 21, and 22, respectively. All photographs retain original intellectual arrangement within their series or subseries.
A further donation of materials was received by the archives while the collection was being processed.
The 2012 accretion material was processed and described by an archivist in the fall of 2022. During processing, photographs, photo negatives, and transparencies were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Original titles were retained when available. In order to protect the photographic materials, these items were placed in appropriate sized archival photo sleeves. Some of the record cartons housing unprocessed materials contained photographs, photo negatives, and transparencies that were taped together and these materials were transfered to New York University's Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department for conservation intervention. Four audiocassettes and two VHS tapes were deaccessioned since their connection to the Irish Echo was unclear.
New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content. Four optical discs were forensically imaged and analyzed using Forensic Toolkit.