The Audio & Video Collection features some 12,000 hours of audio recordings, including a large collection of early audio formats such as wax cylinders, acetate disks, wire-tape and magnetic-tape recordings. The interviews recorded cover many aspects of Irish folklore, folk music, ethnology and oral history, and were collected, for the most part, by professional fieldworkers. The recordings are in English and in Irish, with other languages, such as Breton, Manx and Scottish Gaelic, also represented.
This Collection continues to grow through active field recording and donations of audio and video recordings by members of the public.
The Urban Folklore Project, undertaken by the Department of Irish Folklore, University College Dublin, was a novel and timely initiative, which has preserved a valuable record of Dublin’s folklore and social history. From October 1979 to December 1980 a team led by graduates of the Department of Irish Folklore conducted more than 700 interviews with Dublin men and women. These interviews, having been carefully transcribed, are now bound in 75 manuscript volumes and form part of our Manuscript Collections. Researchers can also listen to the original audio recordings made as part of this collection. Visits to the Audio & Video Collection are by appointment only.
For details of our opening hours, and to arrange your visit, contact us here.
A selection of interviews dealing with Dublin people’s memories of the 1916 Rising can be found at www.ucd.ie/folklore/1916 .
We ask that visitors contact us to make an appointment to view our collections.