Ó Lócháin, a teacher by profession, started the first such class (instruction for adults) in Brooklyn in 1872.
After 1904 most declined and vanished, a fact attributed to a general view among the Irish that the language was irrelevant to their economic and social advancement in America.
This attempt failed, but in 2004 language activists succeeded in returning to what they regarded as the original aims of the Society.
[5] The Society's members offer support to other Irish language groups and to students throughout the world, supply CDs and books, and provide teaching materials and classes.
An Gael (presently edited by Séamas Ó Neachtain) is a quarterly literary magazine in Irish which is published on behalf of the Philo-Celtic Society.