We’re building a living archive of the Irish in America

Everyone has a story to tell. Irish people carry a deep storytelling tradition, and that instinct traveled with them, generation after generation, to America, where stories became a way to stay connected to home. Two hundred and fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, the Irish story is woven into every chapter of America’s history. Today, more than 30 million Americans, roughly one in ten, trace their roots to Ireland. Every one of those families carries a story; some are buried deep within the lineage, many are held within living memory, and others are only beginning. Until now, there has been no single place to share these journeys.

America Éire is a nationwide grassroots storytelling initiative from Irish America 250. We’re building a living archive of the journeys and histories of the Irish in America, shared under the campaign My Irish Story. We’re inviting Irish Americans, all those with Irish ancestry, and Irish-born immigrants to the United States to take part in this nationwide initiative. My Irish Story pays homage to and celebrates the profound role and enduring legacy of the Irish and Irish Americans in shaping the United States of America since its inception through today. Every story shared will receive its own dedicated page in the record.

A story here can be three sentences or three generations: the name of the townland left behind, the excitement of a big city, the sense of belonging to two places at once. Each one is a path from where it began to where it landed, and in some cases to where it returned. No journey is the same, and together they make up a tapestry of connections and crossings — county by county, name by name, an anthology of Irish America.

We hope you will share yours — and encourage others to tell theirs — so together we can create a dynamic digital time capsule of Irish America at this moment in time.