53 boxes & ephemera. 

Section 1 deals specifically with the personal and professional papers of Ó Riada himself. This section has been divided into subsections as to best reflect the composer’s personal and professional lives. Subsection B is concerned with Ó Riada’s personal life and includes material pertaining to household matters (i.e. shopping lists, letters about the Ó Riada’s telephone service). 

Section 2 deals with the papers of Ó Riada’s wife, Ruth Ó Riada (née Coughlan). Subsection A is concerned with Ruth’s early life. It contains school reports, letters and a number of diaries kept by the young Ruth Coughlan. Of note is a school report which refers to Ruth’s problems with the Irish language (see BL/PP/OR/749). She struggled with the subject although, in later years, she was to become a fluent speaker of the language. Like her husband, Ruth, championed the cause of ‘An Saol Gaelach’ and became a leading member of Grúpa Miontionsclóirí na Gaeltachta (see Subsection H). Section 2 also contains documents relating to the Coughlan and Chauvie families (Ruth’s maternal and paternal relations) as well as documents concerning the Ó Riada children. 

Section 3 is devoted to photographs. It is divided into those which relate to Ó Riada and his relations and those which relate to Ruth and her relations. There are not many photographs of Ó Riada but included in this collection are two of the composer as a baby (BL/PP/OR/1012, 1013). The majority of photographs which have survived belong to Ruth and her relatives. There are numerous pictures of Ruth as a child and of her mother and father, Leonie Coughlan (née Chauvie) and Eddie Coughlan. There is also a section which contains photographs of people who could not be identified. 

• Correspondence Search Repository Site
• Culture Search Repository Site
• Family Search Repository Site
• Irish Language Search Repository Site
• Music Search Repository Site

UCC Special Collections and Archives provides a Seán Ó Riada Collection/Bailiúchán Sheáin Ui Riada Descriptive List.

Acquired from the Ó Riada family by University College Cork in 2004 who had preserved it in situ in the family home.