It was a busy spring for WIMA and has been a very busy summer! We’ve got some great news to share!

WIMA is pleased to announced that on August 16, 2010, we’re officially releasing a double audio CD of the Dunn Family Collection recordings called The Francis O’Neill Cylinders: Thirty-two Recordings of Irish Traditional Music in America circa 1904. We’ll simultaneously release a dedicated website, The Dunn Family Collection: Francis O’Neill Cylinders, featuring online versions of images, manuscripts, and historical information from the Dunn Family Collection, as well as streaming versions of all the Francis O’Neill cylinders. Keep your eyes on our website, http://www.irishfest.com/archives, and Facebook page for links to purchase the CD and study the collection sometime in early August.

We’ve taken word about this fine collection on the road the past few months. Director Barry Stapleton presented a program about the Dunn Family Collection at the 44th annual conference of the Association for Record Sound Collections in New Orleans in May. I recently returned from a trip to the Catskills Irish Arts Week where I presented information about the collection, as well as unveiling several of the remastered recordings.

Barry and I will launch the CD and website at the 2010 Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School on Monday night, August 16 from 7 to 9pm. Feel free to contact us about the launch or visit the Summer School site for more details: http://www.irishfest.com/schools/summerschool.php

Expect more updates in the next week or two!

-Jeff Ksiazek, archivist