Drop Down Menu
  Search...
 
  Business Directory Ad  

 

‘Happy Days and Hard Times’ in Inishowen 11.06.19

PEOPLE from Inishowen are encouraged to record their memories of country life. ‘Happy Days and Hard Times’, a superb collection of visitor memories at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, has just been reissued for print due to its initial success. The book is a series of stories contributed by the general public during their visit to the museum and draws on their experiences and memories of country life. Included in the collection are memories from an Inishowen visitor who remembers making straw ropes with his grandfather on Inch Island.
This beautifully sentimental book, which evokes strong memories such as collecting hay in the summer or fetching water from the well, was compiled by the Museums documentation officer, Joanne Hamilton. The project was initiated in 2013 to encourage Museum visitors to engage in the process of reminiscence during their visit.
Using specially designed memory sheets, visitors were invited to record their memories and stories of country life. These individual memories were then added to a growing archive of personalised accounts which was organised by Hamilton for publication and complemented by an array of archival images from the Irish Folklife Collection.
‘Happy Days and Hard Times’ is a superb collection of visitor memories at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life.
Talking about the project, Ms. Hamilton says: “Having overheard visitors regularly engaging in reminiscence whilst talking together in the galleries, I saw the potential to harness this by enabling visitors to record these stories and memories in a simple way. In doing this, the personal stories and memories recorded can to contribute to the broader narrative that the Museum represents.
What we’ve found is that visitors buy a book for themselves, older relatives or those living abroad. The thought provoking stories resonate with so many; those visits to the bog with the flask of tea or cycling the countryside. It brings people into a simpler past, a past filled with colour and conversation, a past where children ran through fields till dusk and neighbours sat for hours whiling away time.
Of course, as the book title suggests, not all of the rich memories of country living are surrounded with that wistful glow; the undercurrent of hard times comes to the fore as people recount their stories. Poverty, overcrowding and hunger all quietly resonate in these simplistic tales of old.”
People in Inishowen can still contribute memories and stories of country life to the memory book project by downloading a memory sheet from the museum website at www.museum.ie and returning it with your written memory to Joanne Hamilton, The National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
Add to Favorites :: Return to > Top Stories    > News    > Home