Irish Traditional Music Archive

Introduction

The Irish Traditional Music Archive – Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann – is a national reference archive and resource centre for the traditional song, instrumental music and dance of Ireland. It is a public not-for-profit facility which is open, free of charge, to anyone with an interest in the contemporary and historical artforms of Irish traditional music. The Archive promotes public education in Irish traditional music through its own activities and through partnerships with others.

Established in 1987, the Archive is the first body to be exclusively concerned with the making of a comprehensive multi-media collection of materials – sound recordings, books and serials, sheet music and ballad sheets, photographs, videos and DVDs, etc. – for the appreciation and study of Irish traditional music. The Archive now holds the largest such collection in existence, with coverage of the island of Ireland, of areas of Irish settlement abroad (especially in Britain, North America and Australia), and of non-Irish performers of Irish traditional music. A representative collection of the traditional music of other countries is also being made. The Archive is situated at 73 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, with network-connected work-stations in Dublin, Cork, Mayo and Donegal. It includes public rooms for accessing and studying materials; specialist rooms for digitising, conserving, cataloguing, and storing materials; and an audio and video recording studio.

Opening Hours 
The collections are open to the general public from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday andone Saturday per month throughout the year, with the exception of Irish public holidays and the period 24 December to 2 January inclusive. No appointment is needed for a general visit, but please ring ahead if you wish to speak to a particular member of staff, have special requirements, or need wheelchair access.