UNIVERSITY College, Galway has acquired the Ritchie-Pickow archive of Irish music and folklore, which provides a cultural portrait of Ireland in the early 1950s. To mark the acquisition, an exhibition featuring the archive is to be held at UCG's library from May 13th.
The archive consists of sound recordings and photographs taken by the American folk song collector, Jean Ritchie, and her photographer husband, George Pickow, during a field trip to Ireland in 1952-53.
The archive includes thousands of photographs, and "constitutes a previously untapped reservoir of Irish folk customs and traditions, most of which have since disappeared", according to a spokeswoman for UCG.
The bulk of the work has never been published, while much of the traditional music has not been heard in public. Included are recordings by Seamus Ennis and Sarah Makem, mother of Tommy Makem.