UCD LIBRARY CULTURAL HERITAGE COLLECTIONS
Welcome to the UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections blog. Discover and explore the historical treasures housed within our Archives, Special Collections, National Folklore Collection and Digital Library
As of late, I’ve noticed the same fox walking by where I live each night. As I watched him go by, it brought me back to something, or rather someone, I had come across while creating an index for the Urban Folklore Project, as part of my work in the National Folklore Collection. The Urban …
Continue reading "Adolphus Cooke in the Urban Folklore Project"
This blogpost was originally supposed to be about our acetate disc digitisation and publication project as we near its end but after the launch of our latest and last (for a while) batch of acetate discs at this year’s Oireachtas na Samhna festival, it was clear that the festival itself was the real story. With …
Continue reading "Oireachtas na Samhna: a Celebration of our Cultural Heritage"
Harriet Hjort by Anna Riwkin (1908-1970) © Anna Riwkin/Moderna Museet, FM 1981 032 2518 Scholarship links between Ireland and Scandinavia in the field of folklore are too numerous to mention, but suffice it to say that in 1921, undergraduate Séamus Ó Duilearga met Norwegian Reidar Christiansen by chance in a Dublin book shop, and this …
The Sound Archive in the National Folklore Collection has recently digitised the Hans Hartmann collection of audio tapes, which were stored in UCD’s Special Collections. The collection comprises 39 reel-to-reel tapes, and each tape contains 3 hours of material collected by Hartmann. These recordings were made in the 1960s in Galway, Kerry and Donegal. Reel-to-reel …
Continue reading "HANS HARTMANN’S CONNECTION WITH THE IRISH FOLKLORE COMMISSION"
The Easter Cycle comprises a period of fasting, purification and spiritual renewal which culminates in joyful celebration of Christ’s Resurrection. In this short post it is only possible to sketch a very brief outline of some of the popular customs and practices which characterise the Easter observances in Irish tradition, which were, in the main, …
Continue reading "‘Mac na hÓige Slán!’ The Easter Cycle in Irish Folk Tradition"
This is the third and final part in the history of the Sound Archive at the National Folklore Collection. The first and seconds parts can be found here: Part 1 and Part 2 Reels to reels in the Audio Archive This final part of the story begins in the 1960s, with open-reel technology being used …
February 1st, St Brigid’s Day, heralds the beginning of spring in Irish tradition and as such, quite a few of our previous blog posts for the season have discussed the saint in literary tradition and folk tradition, as well as the coming of spring and the beginning of the agricultural year. The first folklore blog …
This is the second part in the history of the Sound Archive at the National Folklore Collection. The first part can be found here. Caoimhín Ó Danachair in the sound recording studio, Irish Folklore Commission This part of the story begins in 1939 when Séamas Ó Duilearga had a chance meeting with a member of …
Continue reading "The Evolution of the Sound Archive at the National Folklore Collection"
Caoimhín Ó Danachair played many important roles within the Irish Folklore Commission and later the Department of Irish Folklore; recording informants, capturing photographs, looking after the questionnaire system and much more. He first joined the staff of the Commission in January 1940, having spent the period of 1937-1939 training in comparative folklore and ethnology as …
Jonathan Swift, author, satirist and clergyman, was born in Ireland to English parents in 1667. While he spent many of the early years of his education and career between both countries, he was appointed Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, in 1714. Swift had hoped for a senior clerical appointment in England, but despite this, …