The museum was officially opened by the President of Ireland, Mrs. Mary Robinson, on October 13, 1991. President Robinson is Honorary President of the Irish American Heritage Center.

Museum acquisitions include a magnificent collection of Belleek Parian China; a tapestry by Lily Yeats, sister of W.B. Yeats; a historic chair commissioned by The Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago on the occasion of the visit of U.S. President William Howard Taft on St. Patrick's Day, 1910; a square grand piano dating from the late nineteenth century; an exquisite collection of Irish Lace; the first organ from St. Patrick's Church in St. Charles, Illinois; and a series of historic maps showing the Irish contribution to European culture from the sixth to the twelfth centuries.