Going to the Well for Water: The Seamus Ennis Field Diary 1942-1946

Notes

Notes Notes to Introduction 1 For accounts of the origins and history of the Irish Folklore Commission, see Briody 2007, Ó Catháin 2005, Almqvist 1977. 2 RTÉ AA5382 9.6.1971 ‘Here and Now’. The programme, entitled ‘Liam Nolan Talking to Séamus Ó Duilearga, 1971’, was broadcast on 9 June 1971. 3 Hereinafter ‘the Commission’. 4 In the minutes of the Commission’s meetings Ó Súilleabháin’s appointment is described, in Irish, as that of ‘cláraitheoir’, meaning ‘cataloguer’. In addition to his archival work, he undertook research and published and lectured extensively. 5 See Breathnach and Ní Mhurchú 1997, 251–2. 6 Ó Lochlainn 1939 (1946, 1952). 7 The Seamus Ennis Story. RTÉ Radio Series MC 115 1988. Part 1, ‘Early Years’. 8 90.50. 9 3.81. 10 2.03. 11 A recommendation was made at a meeting of the financial sub-committee on 29 January 1943 that Ennis should be paid according to an annual salary of £250 (317.50) when working outside Dublin and £150.00 (190.50) per annum when working in Dublin. On 18 February 1943, Ó Duilearga sent a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Education requesting the increase. Referring to a proposed increase in the collectors’ salaries, Seán Ó Súilleabháin wrote to Ennis on 6 December 1944 that he had long deserved such an increase because of all the expenses incurred on his travels. In 1945, Ennis’ annual salary was increased to £250, regardless of his place of work. Ennis noted, in Irish, in his office diary of 9 March 1945: ‘We received a letter this morning, granting me a salary of £250 (317.50), in response to the letter sent to the Department of Education in December – it is high time!’ (NFC 1296: 318). 12 Most full-time collectors were provided with an Ediphone recording machine, which worked by means of a clockwork mechanism. Recordings were made on wax cylinders. A box of Ediphone cylinders was posted to collectors and when the material was recorded it was then transcribed. The transcription and box of Ediphone cylinders were posted back to the offices of the Irish Folklore Commission, where a layer of wax was shaved off each cylinder. The cylinders were then repackaged and returned to the collector for further use. 13 Translated from the Minutes of the Irish Folklore Commission, Commission Meetings 1–78, 1935–54, 26 October 1942. 14 He was a senator and published on aspects of Irish traditional music. 15 He was professor of music at University College Cork and was also a composer. 359 16 He was professor of music at University College, Dublin 1921–1958. 17 For the backdrop to diary keeping by Ó Duilearga and by folklore collectors in Ireland see Briody 2005, 27–45. 18 Delargy 1945. 19 He includes a quotation from his diary for Saturday 12 April 1930 in which he gives a detailed account of a particularly exciting storytelling occasion. He describes the turf fire, the light, the limewashed walls, the dresser with dishes, mugs and cups, the big deal rake by the wall and the holy pictures hanging above it (Ó Duilearga 1981, 423–4). 20 Ó Duilearga 1981, xiii–xxvi. 21 Uí Ógáin 2000, 147. This is contained in a letter dated 15 June 1937 from Seán Ó Súilleabháin to the collector Seán Mac Mathúna (NFC Correspondence). 22 Cínlae is an Irish-language word for ‘diary’ or ‘journal’. 23 Uí Ógáin 2000, 167. 24 NFC 1295, 1296, 1297. 25 1296: 298. 26 See 1296: 273, 274 and 281, for example. 27 See 1296: 288. He purchased the car on 10 April 1946 in Stradbally, County Laois. 28 The Austin van was a Model Y Ford and was manufactured between 1936 and 1938. 29 Manuscript material was sent for binding on arrival at the Commission’s offices. Occasionally, additional sheets such as letters were bound together with the manuscript notebooks. 30 1107: 364–5. 31 He signed his first letter to Ó Duilearga ‘Séamus Óg Mac Aonghusa’. His father often went by the name ‘Séamus Mac Aonghusa’. In order to distinguish between father and son in this publication the collector is called Séamus Ennis and his father ‘James Ennis’. 32 Lent is defined as the period preceding Easter, which was and still is often devoted to fasting, abstinence and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. In Ireland, this frequently took the form of...