How interning at an archive helped me connect with a missing part of my culture

This guest post is by Heather Wallace, a soon to be MLIS graduate from the UCD School of Information and Communications Studies.

Heather Wallace in the ITMA. Picture credit: Heather Wallace 2025.

Introduction

Growing up in Ireland my whole life, you would think I’d have a pretty decent understanding of my own heritage…however, I’m ashamed to admit that this is only partially true. With a BA in History and Classics and an MA in Medieval History, both from University College Dublin, I could babble on for days about the Brehon Laws, Viking Dublin, or Norman castles…actually, best not get me started if we want to finish this blog. Yet despite all of that, a part of me has always felt disconnected from one of the most important and active aspects of Irish culture: traditional music, song and dance.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I had never actually attended a proper céilí or a music session, despite them being absolutely everywhere in Dublin, and I couldn’t even name a traditional tune beyond the obvious few like Molly Malone or The Rocky Road to Dublin. Fortunately, I was given a chance to explore this curiosity during my Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) at UCD, when my Summer internship involved working on a group project at the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) in Merrion Square, Dublin 2. The project centred around updating the existing metadata and rehousing a collection of approximately 10,000 LP records held in the archive.

What drew me to this internship was the combination of wanting hands-on cataloguing experience and the opportunity to finally learn about the world of traditional music that I had missed growing up. I absolutely loved my internship, and after submitting my MLIS thesis in mid-August 2025, I returned to the ITMA to work in the library as an intern. This blog will explore what I learned from my time at the ITMA: how cataloguing, volunteering at library events, talking to fellow staff, and speaking with visitors from all over the world transformed my understanding of traditional music, and why the archive is an incredible resource not just for musicians and researchers, but for anyone like me who is a complete newbie. All it takes is a little curiosity.

ITMA Library. Picture credit: Heather Wallace, 2025.

Learning by Doing

Tony Fadell once said that “learning by doing is the only way I know how to learn,” and this has been an accurate reflection of my own journey toward deepening my understanding of Irish music, song, and dance. Since returning to the ITMA, I’ve been working through a significant backlog of CDs, LPs, books, theses, sheet music, and online articles that have built up over the years, with 300+ materials catalogued so far, and it is constantly growing. What they do not teach you in college is that cataloguing is an active, fully immersive process that requires an appreciation and understanding of each item to accurately describe it. In my case, as I did not have a background in traditional music, I got to spend my time listening to the LPs and CDs, brushing up on my Irish, reading articles and theses so I could better understand them and record them with greater accuracy. Over time, my exposure, knowledge, and appreciation of the various items in the collection naturally expanded from there on.

One aspect that surprised me most was how many international visitors expressed their pride and admiration for the archive’s commitment to preserving and making their collection freely available, with many voicing their wish for a similar archive in their home countries. Their comments reminded me that what feels normal and accessible to us here in Ireland is not the global standard, and that we are incredibly fortunate to have a building, staff and the facilities to carry out this mission.

Irish Tradition for Beginners

Another thing I’ve learned during my time here is that ITMA isn’t just for musicians, singers, dancers, or scholars, but it’s also an incredible place for complete beginners to explore. As a newcomer to Irish music, I was always on the lookout for materials in the archive and library aimed at people like me.

ITMA has something for every age and skill level: beginner-friendly books for learning different instruments, a book of 1000 years of Irish Poetry, CDs with nursery rhymes and stories for children “as Gaeilge”, instructional DVDs, such as How to Dance Sean-nós, field recordings of sessions across Ireland, or even niche topics like the History of Gaelic Wexford 1400 - 1600. There really is something for everyone. I myself was inspired to relearn Irish after not having touched it since my Leaving Cert, and my music playlist grows a little more each day, with artists like The Bothy Band, Planxty, Alannah Thornburgh, and Josephine Keegan, who sadly passed away in September this year, being some of my favourite musicians that I have listened to and catalogued so far.

All of these items are searchable online through the ITMA Soutron catalogue, and while some parts of the collection are available offsite, the true learning experience is best explored in person. The staff are always happy to give a tour, explain the archive’s work, chat about their favourite tunes, and let visitors explore the collection, and the best part is you can walk right in, no booking is required. If you can’t make it to the archive in person, the ITMA website is constantly updated with news, blogs, recent publications and acquisitions, playlists, and more.

For those of you who enjoy live events, I highly recommend you check out the various concerts, events and talks that ITMA hosts throughout the year. Many are free including those held during Heritage Week, Culture Night, and Open House. They’re a great way to take part in the community, meet new people, learn something new, and connect with others involved in traditional music. So maybe I’ll see you soon in the library, where I can introduce you to all of our resources or feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn here! Slán!