In conjunction with the exhibition currently on display at Ballymote Community Library, we are delighted to be welcoming Deirdre Ni Chonghaile from University of Galway to speak at 5pm on Thursday 25th July.
All are welcome and no booking is required.
Please contact the library at 071 9111669 if you require further information.
Title of Talk
Recording Voices of the Modern Irish State: Tomás Ó Máille (1880-1938), folklore collector, linguist, newspaper editor, professor
Speaker
Deirdre Ní Chonghaile
Curator of the exhibition Culture & Citizenship: Tomás Ó Máille
Abstract
Tomás Ó Máille (1880-1938) was the inaugural Professor of Irish at University College Galway. Born in 1880 in the Maam Valley in Connemara into a prosperous, Irish-speaking family, Tomás trained in Dublin, Manchester, Liverpool, Baden, Berlin, and Freiburg where he was awarded his doctorate in 1909. He was associated with the West Connemara flying column, and his brother Pádraic (1876–1946) was a member of the first Dáil. Belonging to the coterie of radical intellectuals and political and cultural leaders of the War of Independence, Ó Máille’s achievements are rightly considered alongside those of his fellow revolutionaries, his friend Patrick Pearse and fellow academics Thomas McDonagh and Éamon de Valera.
A folklore and song collector, newspaper editor, linguist, and teacher, Ó Máille was in a pioneer in many ways. His greatest foresight was his commitment to the newest technology of his day – audio recording. From 1928, he created over 500 recordings of speech, storytelling, and song from Irish speakers throughout Connacht and Clare, which can now be heard at https://www.universityofgalway.ie/tomasomaille-ga/. Ó Máille also assisted the recording work of other collectors and scholars including Wilhelm Doegen whose Irish recordings are hosted by the Royal Irish Academy at https://www.doegen.ie.
This talk marks Prof. Ó Máille’s contribution – unparalleled in scale and ambition – to the audio heritage of Ireland and coincides with the bilingual exhibition Culture & Citizenship: Tomás Ó Máille touring Ireland throughout 2024.