The John J. Ward Jr. Irish Music Archives had its origin in Ed Ward's visit to the Irish Traditional Archives in Dublin in 1991. While waiting for Archives Director Nicholas Carolan, he was going through music books on the shelves and came across copies of his grandfather's collection. Recognizing that these books, which were part of the Ward family's heritage, had historical significance and value, it made him wonder where a record of Irish America's musical heritage was being preserved. As it turned out, no significant collection existed. What better place than Milwaukee Irish Fest, with its own collection of then 15 years of music and music related items to initiate a national effort to preserve and protect items related to our Irish musical heritage.

While the idea was planted and the seed germinated for several years, a small collection was started and efforts were made to promote the idea of offering free festival tickets to donors who gave us items. Giving the archives its current home gave the final impteus for growth, and very rapid growth at that. The archives has been enthusiastically embraced by many. The receipt of the 6,000 plus piece Comer collection gave us the jump start to let us know were were on the right track, that valuable resources were out there and that people wanted them in the hands of people who would protect them and make them accessible to the public.

Ed certainly could not have foreseen this generous gift by the Comer family. But he knew as soon as he saw it the first time that we had already moved into a different league. "It was very humbling to stand in the basement of Michael and Mary Comer and view the studio and collection and realize the passion and dedication that had gone into accumulating and preserving this substantial music collection. Seeing this collection gave me the same feeling that I felt in the Dublin archives after seeing my grandfather's books - in Cleveland, the idea of the archives had been validated." says Ed.

It became the impetus the following year for Ed to build up his own personal collection and to acquire items that would complement the items in the Comer collection. Within a year of the receipt of the Comer collection, he assembled a personal collection of recordings, sheet music and books and recording machines that doubled the size of the archives collection. All the while, the archives continued to promote and accept gifts from others that brought in many wonderful and difficult-to-find items. The addition of three Bing Crosby collections from across the U.S. through the efforts of Barry Stapleton brought us a world class Crosby collection.