About the oral history
Introduction
Welcome to the GAA Oral History Project.
Commissioned as part of the GAA’s 125 celebrations in 2009, this unique undertaking set out to record, collect and preserve the experiences, stories and perspectives of those whose lives have been in any way influenced, shaped or impacted upon by the GAA.
The result is the largest archive of its kind for any sports organisation in the world. Under the direction of a research team at Boston College-Ireland and over the course of four years (from 2009 to 2012) 790 interviews were conducted with approximately 1,300 individuals throughout Ireland and overseas.
The interviews vary in length, involve individuals of different age-groups and backgrounds, and cover a vast range of subject-matter.
Each interview is accompanied by a brief written summary and a detailed log of contents, which includes biographical information on each of the interviewees.
The recordings hosted here constitute the core content of an even larger oral archive, which encompasses thousands of written adult and children’s questionnaires. This material is held at the GAA Library & Archive in Croke Park.
Why an Oral History?
The value of oral history is that it captures that which might not be otherwise available.
The purpose of this project was to broaden and deepen the historical record of the GAA by capturing the life stories of those who make up the Association or whose lives have been impacted by it.
Through the use of carefully structured interviews, the oral history project aimed to go beyond the stories of great games and players and major administrative developments (though they are covered too) to ascertain the ways in which Gaelic games, and the Association which organises them, has informed the lives and personal histories of those involved. What does it mean to be involved with the GAA and how does involvement impact upon them as people, upon their families and upon the communities in which they live?
The responses to these inquiries and others have resulted in an archive of remarkable depth and variety, which touches on many aspects of Irish social, cultural and political experience.
The GAA Oral History Archive will therefore be of interest and value to anybody with an interest in the history of GAA, in the history of Irish sport, but also to anybody curious about how Irish society has changed over the course of the last century.
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How to use the Oral Archive
For ease of access the interviews have been divided by area and by topic. Users can use the two sections below to find their desired interview and then using the player at the top of each interview page. Alternatively, a straightforward word search can be done using the ‘Search’ function on the top right corner of the screen.
Each interview recording is accompanied by a brief written summary and an Interview Report Form, which provides biographical information on the interviewee and a time-coded guide to the interview contents.
The Boston College-Ireland
The GAA Oral History project was devised and managed by a research team at Boston College-Ireland led by Directors Prof. Mike Cronin, Mark Duncan and Dr. Paul Rouse and including Dr. Arlene Crampsie, Regina Fitzpatrick and Ben Shorten. For the first year of the project, Anne-Marie Smith also formed part of the research team.
The research team was supported by a large number of trained volunteers who carried out interviews in their own local areas. Without their contributions – and that of others who assisted with raising awareness of the project and encouraging participation – a project on this scale could not have been envisaged let alone delivered.
Finally, the project team would like to express its gratitude to all those who took the time and made the effort to share their experiences either in writing or by recorded interview.