Founded in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 19th century and in continuous operation since 1897, the society has been non-partisan and non-sectarian since its inception. The society was founded as a response to the establishment of the Scotch-Irish Society which was founded in 1889. AIHS was relocated to New York City in 1904 by T. H. Murray, then serving as society's Secretary-General. Perhaps the most notable member of AIHS at the time was President Theodore Roosevelt. The society's formal purpose is "to place permanently on record the story of the Irish in America from the earliest settlement to the present day, justly, impartially, fully, and sympathetically correcting neglect and misrepresentation by certain historians of the part taken in the founding, upbuilding and safeguarding of the Nation by persons of Irish birth and descent." Notable members through the years have included politician William Bourke Cockran, tenor John McCormack, New York GovernorHugh Carey, and performer/composer George M. Cohan. In 1940, the Society moved to a Beaux-Artstownhouse on Fifth Avenue in New York City, which it still occupies.
Recent events
As of 2011, members included "prominent doctors, writers, lawyers and even some boldface names like Liam Neeson." It continued to hold a "vast collection of rare books" and hold various cultural events such as poetry readings and concerts. In early 2011, New York MayorMichael Bloomberg apologized publicly after joking at a dinner that he's seen a bunch of people "totally inebriated” hanging from the society's balcony on St. Patrick's Day. The comment spurred complaints about Irish stereotyping. The New York Times published an article stating Bloomberg "could hardly have picked a more unlikely target," with locals feeling "surprise and puzzlement that the carefully preserved building and its staid crowd had been singled out as an emblem for, of all things, rowdiness." Kevin M. Cahill is president-general emeritus of the American-Irish Historical Society. The society headquarters is at 991 Fifth Avenue, opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With around 10,000 volumes, it "maintains the most complete private collection of Irish-American and Irish literature and history in the United States." The society publishes a journal entitled The Recorder and hosts cultural and historical events. During the holiday seasons of 2016 and 2017, AIHS was home to the Irish Repertory Theatre's production of The Dead, 1904. The show was an adaptation of James Joyce's The Dead, adapted by novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz and her husband, Irish poet, Paul Muldoon. For The Dead, 1904, the building had 57 guests at a time, who for part of the performance joined the cast for a holiday feast drawn from the original novella.
The American Irish Historical Society annually awards the AIHS Gold Medal to an Irish-American or Irish national of significant accomplishment. Past honorees have included Bono, George J. Mitchell, Mary Higgins Clark, Wilbur Ross, Michael J. Dowling, and Robert McCann.
