Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the role of the family homestead in the professional collection of folklore in Teelin, south-west Donegal (1935-1975) and indeed vice-versa, focusing on the renowned folklore collector Seán Ó hEochaidh (1913-2002) and the Ó Beirn family of Iomaire Mhuireanáin.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the role of the rural visiting house as an agent to the enterprise of national folklore collection in Teelin, south-west Donegal, during the years of the lrish Folklore Commission (1935-1975). Seán Ó hEochaidh (1913-2002), one of the most successful collectors of the IFC and a native of Teelin, flourished as a collector thanks to the hospitality afforded to him by numerous folkloristic networks in dwellings across Donegal. Ó hEochaidh's field diaries highlight the significance of folkloristic networks in Teelin as he was often assisted by his second cousins, siblings, Conall Ó Beirn and Máire Ní Bheirn whose homestead was one of the primary visiting houses in the locality. The 1940s saw the intimate hearthside of the Ó Beirn family dwelling quickly transform into an international stage for narration, attracting the BBC, The Picture Post and internationally renowned Swiss linguist Heinrich Wagner

In his reassessment of James Delargy's influential lecture, The Gaelic Storyteller (1945), Michael Briody recognises Ó hEochaidh's field work in Teelin as a direct source for the talk and our understandings on the visiting house 'institution' in rural Ireland (2013). The Ó Beirn family partook in the national folklore collection from 1935-1975, sharing their dwelling space and both oral and material resources with the collector and extended network. In analysing Ó hEochaidh's professional yet intimate relationship with the Ó Beirn family dwelling, we can gain fresh perspectives on the collector's influence on local folkloristic networks and gendered spaces within the National Folklore Collection.