Cuimhneamh to collect tales of Chicago’s older Irish

AN international initiative aimed at recording some of Clare’s elders who immigrated to America over the 20th century got underway in the last few days as part of a co-ordinated approach between Cuimhneamh an Chláir and NUI Galway.
Cuimhneamh an Chláir, the newly established Clare Oral History and Folklore group, have partnered with the NUI Galway and the Irish Immigrant Support Group in Chicago, to conduct a pilot oral history initiative with some Clare natives who left the Banner County many years ago.
The initiative will be run over the course of four months and will see two postgraduate students from NUI Galway’s Social Care Programme meeting with and interviewing a number of elderly Clare people in Chicago. 
The students have been trained by Cuimhneamh an Chláir and the recordings will be added to the Clare group’s increasing archives of the memories of Clare in bygone days.  
Tomás Mac Conmara, project co-ordintaor with Cuimhneamh an Chláir, explained how early in 2009, the group had made a proposal to the Irish Immigrant Support Group through their officers at Wellspring Personal Care in Chicago. They proposed the idea of recording some of Clare’s elders as part of their work with elderly Irish emigrants.  Wellspring Personal Care on behalf of the Irish Immigrant Support Group, trains students from three universities in Ireland: University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Galway and Trinity College, Dublin to assist in their Senior Outreach Programme with elderly Irish immigrants in Chicago.  
Mr Mac Conmara said a series of meetings were held between Cuimhneamh an Chláir and NUI Galway which has resulted in this exiting initiative.  “We knew that NUI Galway, as well as other universities in Ireland, had been sending students out each year to work with elderly Irish emigrants as part of their Social Care Programme. We saw this as a great opportunity to forge a synergy between their aims of working with elderly Irish immigrants and our aim of recording those who left  Clare in the past.
“We are very conscious that many Clare people had to leave the county throughout the last century for economic reasons but that their sense of identity as Clare people has remained very strong since they left. In many cases, the memories an immigrant holds of his or her native place are even more vivid than those who stayed at home.   These memories as well as their experience as emigrants are an important part of the memories of our county. Through our contacts with the Clare Association of Chicago, we hope to identify and prepare interviews with some of Clare’s oldest emigrants in Chicago.  We also hope that with innovative approaches and through partnership we can gather as many of those remaining memories of elderly Clare people in other parts of the world also,” he revealed.  
He added that the greater Chicago metropolitan area is home to an estimated 50,000 Irish emigrants, 5,000 of whom are assumed to be undocumented.  Chicago Irish Immigrant Support provides outreach and developing programs to better connect Irish emigrants with their own community.  
“There was huge emigration from Ireland in the 1950s to the USA and Britain, a decade when economic development in Ireland was stagnant. These emigrants are now in their older years and this initiative will now begin to take account of their experiences,” he explained.
NUI Galway student Bridget O’Hara, one of the students to meet and record some of Clare’s elderly in Chicago, is looking forward to this upcoming opportunity. 
“We are delighted to be working with Cuimhneamh an Chláir who have given us enormous help and contacts in Chicago. We are very fortunate and thankful to be given an opportunity to listen and record older Clare people’s life stories and their unique stories of emigration. We are looking forward to the experience and hope that the older people enjoy the experience too,” she said.
Ms O’Hara added, “The aim is to gain an understanding of the experiences of women/men who are 75 years and over who immigrated to Chicago from County Clare around the 1950s. We also want to establish their experiences of leaving their native county, their sense of identity and the importance of family and informal support.” 
Cuimhneamh an Chláir was formed in February of 2009 as an independent and voluntary group of young history enthusiasts from across Clare who came together through a shared concern that with the passing of Clare’s current elderly, the county was losing an irretrievable part of our history and identity.
The group members have set about digitally recording, documenting and archiving the memories, experiences, customs, traditions and practices of the county. Since its formation, cuairteoirí or volunteer recorders have already conducted over 50 interviews with Clare’s older generation.