About IAAS |
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Mission and Goals
The Irish American Archives Society was formed in 1994 to preserve and present information about the history of the Irish American experience in northeast Ohio. IAAS is a not-for profit organization that sponsors a newsletter, website, podcast, talks, displays, publications, and heritage events and supports the collection and preservation of papers, documents, photographs and memorabilia of individuals and families of Irish descent and the records of organizations and institutions that have influenced the growth and development of the Irish American community in northeast Ohio.
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History
The Irish American Archives Society was founded in 1994 by the late Thomas F. Campbell, Professor of History at Cleveland State University from 1966 until his retirement in 1993. A scholar who specialized in Cleveland history and immigration studies, Dr. Campbell co-edited in 1988 an anthology titled The Birth of Modern Cleveland, 1865-1930. Those community members who were designated in the IAAS by-laws as founding trustees are: The Honorable Francis J. Talty (who served as the first board president), Kevin McGinty, Margaret Lynch, Thomas F. Campbell, Eileen Mullally, James Bambrick, Dr. Kenneth Callahan, Mary Helen Kelly, and Dennis Dooley. Other board members who served more than five years included James P. (Jim) Conway, Eamon D'Arcy, Mary Englert, Louis Finucane, Dr. Joseph Foley, Megs Gallagher, Thomas Lynch, Helen Malloy, Gerry Quinn, Thomas Scanlon, and Jerry Sheehan. The current trustees are listed below.
More than 25 years later, IAAS has important accomplishments and assets in place. Large-scale community projects have been undertaken; IAAS commissioned a sculpture commemorating Cleveland and World Champion boxer Johnny Kilbane and worked with the United Irish Societies of Greater Cleveland to publish a commemorative book, The Day We Celebrate: 175 Years of Cleveland’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. IAAS has built a restricted fund maintained at The Cleveland Foundation composed of donations from 140 life member donors; maintained a partnership with the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS); presented a signature public event, the annual Walks of Life dinner; and attracted a growing body of financial supporters and a committed board of directors (listed below).
In founding the Irish American Archives Society, Dr. Campbell chose to partner with Western Reserve Historical Society because WRHS is the leading repository in Ohio of materials for ethnic study. Since 1971, WRHS has made a concerted effort to collect material relating to the many nationality groups that settled in the Cleveland area. The success of community support for Jewish-American and African-American archival positions at WRHS provided an inspiration for the launching of IAAS. From 1999 through 2007, IAAS supported a part-time archival position at WRHS. The position was held first by the late Lonnie McCauley (1999-2001) and then by Regina Costello (2001-2007). As a result of their endeavors, more than fifty collections of papers and other documents with Irish American associations have either been acquired or identified and re-catalogued among the existing holdings of WRHS.
In 2008, the IAAS Board of Trustees decided that community awareness of the archival program needed to be strengthened and that more broad-based financial support was also needed to insure the future viability of the program. The tasks of awareness building and fundraising were not tasks that could be accomplished by the WRHS archivist. With the support of the Irish American Charitable Foundation, in August 2008 IAAS engaged a part-time professional executive director for the ongoing administration and coordination of its activities. Even without a dedicated archival position in place, important papers continue to enter the WRHS collections, such as a donation of 66 civil war letters written between members of an Irish immigrant family and early records of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The current focus has led to increased emphasis on researching and presenting information about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. IAAS has developed a podcast series, talks, neighborhood tours, and portable displays on a variety of topics relating to the Irish in Cleveland. An informative newsletter, a Facebook page, and the IAAS website (www.irisharchives.org) provide vehicles for reaching the public.
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Governance
Margaret Lynch, Executive Director
Officers of the Board of Trustees
Thomas Corrigan, President
Thomas J. Scanlon, Vice President
Dan Conway, Treasurer
Raymond Daull, Secretary
Members of the Board of Trustees
Hon. Ken Callahan Jr., Dan Conway, Thomas Corrigan, John Coyne, Ray Daull, Margaret (Meg) McGarry, John Myers, Erin O’Toole, Kevin O’Toole, Jim Proctor, Colleen Reali, Thomas J. Scanlon
Emeritus Trustees
Rosemarie Feighan DeJohn, Helen C. Malloy, Mary Karen O’Neil, Gerald Quinn, J. Gerard Sheehan
Major Supporters
IAAS Memorial Funds:
In Memory of James G. Brennan
In Memory of Thomas F. Campbell
In Memory of Pierce Mullally
Lonnie McCauley Tribute Fund
Memorial contributions in the names of James Conway, Megs Gallagher, James and Mary Reynolds, Alfred J. and Margaret Eileen Carmont, and Thomas M. Lynch.
IAAS Life Members
Foundation Support:
The Charles M. and Helen M. Brown Memorial Foundation
The John P. Murphy Foundation
The Arthur B. McBride, Sr., Family Foundation
The Irish American Charitable Foundation
The Murphy Family Foundation
The H. J. McGinness Foundation
The Michael Talty and Helen Talty Charitable Trust
The John & Mary Coyne Charitable Foundation
Johnny Kilbane Sculpture programming was supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant to IAAS from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. The Parade history project was supported in part by a grant from The Honor Project Trust.
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