Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann : The National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin

Abstract

Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann:The National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin Ríonach uí Ógáin (bio) Ireland is renowned for its storytelling, folklore, and vernacular traditions. Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann: The National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin (http://www.ucd.ie/folklore/en) is Ireland’s primary repository for such materials of traditional vernacular culture. The Collection is a public archive, currently accessible for the most part in person; certain elements, however, are available online, and the intention is to make significant portions of the Collection available on the Internet in the near future.1 This current essay is divided into three main sections. It begins by placing the Collection in its cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts. It then addresses the Collection itself and the material it has to offer in terms of folkloristics and other aspects of social and cultural research. The final section offers an example from the archive in the form of a single sheet of music transcription and its collecting that underlies the importance and urgency of ongoing ethnographic fieldwork as well as its potential. Cultural and Historical Context In the nineteenth century, as a reaction against the industrial age and also in connection with the advancement of nationalism, attention was given to antiquarianism and what might be called popular culture. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, storytelling and folk tradition in Ireland began to be recognized as relatively untapped aspects of cultural expression. Some work had previously been undertaken in the compilation of Anglo-Irish tales and novels, and many of these writers belonged to what was at the time the English-speaking minority. People then began to turn to Irish-language material. The American collector, scholar, and linguist, Jeremiah Curtin, was one of the first to collect in Irish-speaking districts of Ireland. He visited Ireland on three occasions and published a number of books. His first book was Myths and Folklore of Ireland, published in 1890. Although Curtin collected from Irish speakers, he did so through English and then published in English. Dubhghlas de hÍde (Douglas Hyde) was the first President of the Republic of Ireland and professor of modern Irish at University College Dublin, and he was the first to collect and publish stories in Irish. His passion for collecting tales and lore came from his love of Irish. In addition to the cultural and language revivals, there was also a broader political revival, with people collecting and using vernacular material for a number of reasons. Collecting tales was viewed as having particular merit, and the notion of a romantic, idealized past was often seen as reflected in the material itself—a view that would eventually underpin an attitude to Irish culture, language, and folklore more generally. While this work of collecting, publishing, and promoting was taking place through Irish, parallel work was taking place in the Anglo-Irish community—W. B. Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory, and George Millington Synge are among the names most closely associated with these efforts. By the early twentieth century a particular emphasis was being placed on tales, legends, and beliefs. In addition, scholars began to come from abroad to study Irish language and literature. Traditional Material Found in the National Folklore Collection The person largely responsible for the establishment of Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann (the Irish Folklore Commission) in 1935 was Séamus Ó Duilearga (James Hamilton Delargy), who was Professor of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin (UCD), Honorary Director of the Commission, and editor of Béaloideas: The Journal of the Folklore of Ireland Society for a number of years. Ó Duilearga was an assistant to Dubhghlas de hÍde at UCD. Before the Commission was established there were two preliminary organizations devoted to Irish folklore: An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann (the Folklore of Ireland Society) founded in 1926 and Institiúid Bhéaloideas Éireann (the Irish Folklore Institute) founded in 1930. The Collection is successor to the Irish Folklore Commission, which was established for the purposes of collecting, safeguarding, and disseminating the oral traditions of Ireland (Briody 2007). The Commission was established by the government of Ireland under the auspices of the Department of Education, and it appointed a number...