Friday 15 July 2016

Dúchas adds Roscommon & Westmeath Schools Collection material

Folklore and local history material from Counties Roscommon and Westmeath have been added to the Schools Collection at Dúchas.ie, the website of the National Folklore Collection (NFC).

The Schools Collection comprises stories written by schoolchildren in the late 1930s in a project run across the 26 counties of the Irish Free State. The pupils collected stories – topics included folk legends, weather lore, local history, proverbs, pastimes, trades and crafts – from their local communities, and recorded the names of their informants, often grandparents or older members of their family or neighbours.

More than 160 schools in Co. Roscommon took part in the scheme and 44 volumes of material were compiled. In Co. Westmeath, over 100 schools took part and 31 volumes of material were compiled.

The NFC's project to digitise the Schools Collection has been moving on a pace with the manuscripts from 21 counties now available on the site; material from the remaining five counties – Carlow, Cork, Offaly, Wexford, Wicklow – is expected to be added before the end of the year.