Irish Folklore Commission
Government body that preserved Ireland's oral traditions and folklore.
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The Irish Folklore Commission (Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann) was created by the Irish government in 1935 to gather and study the nation’s folklore and traditions. It replaced an earlier government body, Institiúid Bhéaloideas Éireann (The Irish Folk Institute), which had been set up in 1930 after public opinion grew that the work should not rely solely on a voluntary society. The driving force behind both was Séamus Ó Duilearga (James Hamilton Delargy), who had already founded the Folklore of Ireland Society and its journal Béaloideas in 1927.
He set strict guidelines for collecting oral tradition, requiring the name, age, and origin of each informant, and the society published material with translations or summaries in German, English, or French. The commission was dissolved in 1971, and its functions were transferred to the Department of Irish Folklore at University College, Dublin, which now holds the collected data—later known as the National Folklore Collection—at the UCD Delargy Centre for Irish Folklore.
Work and legacy
The commission’s task was to collect, preserve, catalogue, study, and explain all forms of Irish folk tradition. With limited funding, it typically employed only six to nine full-time collectors. It drew on graduate students, university students, primary teachers, fishermen, and professional collectors, with the principle that anyone working among the people should do so without pretension. The commission also gathered folk music and song. Ó Duilearga admitted he was not musically inclined, so Liam de Noraidh was hired as a full-time collector until ill health forced him to resign in 1942.
He was replaced by Séamus Ennis, who made extensive use of the Ediphone recording device. The commission distributed questionnaires, used media to inform the public, and worked closely with Irish-speaking areas. In 1948 it began recording the few remaining native speakers of Manx Gaelic on the Isle of Man. Its work attracted foreign scholars, and by the 1950s many were contributing to its collections and research.
Recording devices
The commission owned many Ediphone recordings on wax cylinders, some bought (such as the Fr. Luke Donnellan folksong collection in 1939) and others made by its music collectors. When Ennis joined in 1942, he first transcribed existing cylinders onto paper, then used the Ediphone for fieldwork, likely between 1943 and 1944.
Quick Facts
- Predecessor
- Institiúid Bhéaloideas Éireann (The Irish Folk Institute, 1930)
Facts from the source article.
Background
The commission grew out of earlier efforts by Séamus Ó Duilearga, who founded An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann in 1927 and its journal Béaloideas. Public sentiment that folklore preservation should not be left to a voluntary society led the government to establish Institiúid Bhéaloideas Éireann (The Irish Folk Institute) in 1930, with Ó Duilearga as head. In 1935, this institute was deemed inadequate, and the larger Irish Folklore Commission was formed, with Ó Duilearga appointed honorary director.
The commission employed six to nine collectors due to limited funding, drawing from fishermen, primary teachers, and professional collectors. It collected folk music and song, hiring Liam de Noraidh as full-time collector until he had to resign in 1942 due to poor health, and replaced by Séamus Ennis, who used the Ediphone recording device extensively. The commission was also closely involved with locals, especially Irish-speaking districts. They distributed questionnaires and it would not be until 1947 that the commission would figure out how to use the gramophone for collecting folklore in the field.
Among the Irish Folklore Commission's collections are written interviews recorded between 1937 and 1939. This was possible with a grant of $500 from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Did You Know?
- The commission's Ediphone recordings had to be reused and overwritten after transcription because the commission could not afford a constant fresh supply of cylinders.
- The commission received a gramophone free of charge from the Edison Company in June 1940, but could not adapt it for field work until 1947.
- The School's Collection involved more than 50,000 school children and produced 1,128 volumes of folklore.
More in Folklore studies
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Irish Folklore Commission (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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