IFA library archive to attract world’s scholars
Arts, Sports and Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue formally opened the 100,000 project, developed in association with the Millennium Committee and the National Museum.
It consists of 3,000 books, 1,200 journals, 600 boxes of paper resources, 35,000 images and 1,000 prints, as well as drawings, maps and a National Museum video collection of largely extinct folklife practices.
These materials were built up by the Irish Folklife Division of the National Museum and pertain largely to the country’s folk heritage.
Minister O’Donoghue said that opening the library and archive was a duty which he carried out with pride.
“The indomitable spirit of the Irish farmer is celebrated and documented in the collection,” he added. National Museum director, Dr Patrick F Wallace said the Country Life Museum’s purpose is to explain and display the craft traditions, raw materials and social life of the countryside in the relatively recent past.
IFA president John Dillon said he was particularly proud the aAssociation was in a position to support the development of the library archive which will be a national asset for thousands of people interested in the countryside.
The Millennium Committee said the project recognises a folkloric tradition that is the envy of Europe, and the part the farming community has in its creation and preservation.
