Cures / Leighiseanna

Irish Folk Remedies from The Schools’ Collection

A Visual Series as Dúchas Featured Artist

Cures is an ongoing visual art project that I initiated during the Covid-19 pandemic. I set to work on a visual art project where I delved into the Irish & English language archives of the National Folklore Collection through the Dúchas digital portal. I explored local cures written in the Schools’ Collection which were collected by schoolchildren in the 1930s.

About ‘Bailiúchán na Scol’ / ‘The Schools’ Collection’

Between 1937 and 1939 the Irish Free State set about recording and preserving Irish folklore traditions through the primary school system. A scheme was devised by the Irish Folklore Commission to ask that children throughout the 26 counties of the Irish Free State to collect folklore in their home districts. This included oral history, topographical information, folktales and legends, riddles and proverbs, games and pastimes, trades and crafts. The children recorded this material from their parents, grandparents and neighbours. The scheme resulted in the creation of over half a million manuscript pages and is generally referred to as ‘Bailiúchán na Scol’ or ‘The Schools’ Collection’. What resulted was a rich treasure trove of folk cultural material – approximately 740,000 pages (288,000 pages in the pupils’ original exercise books; 451,000 pages in bound volumes) of folklore and local tradition were compiled by pupils from 5,000 primary schools, involving more than 50,000 schoolchildren from 5,000 schools in the 26 counties of the Irish Free State.

That collection is housed at UCD. The Dúchas Project is the digitisation and dissemination of the Irish National Folklore Collection.

Many thanks to Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh, Conchúr Mag Eacháin, and Úna Bhreathnach of Dúchas for their support. Supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.