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From Corrib to Cultra: Folklife Essays in Honour of Alan Gailey. Edited by Trefor M. Owen. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University Belfast, 2000. 257 pp. pbk. L9.50. ISBN 0-85389-765-4
The cover illustration of this collection of essays is of a farmhouse from Drumnahunshin in County Armagh. It was moved from its original site and reconstructed on the grounds of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra Manor in County Down. The illustration is representative of an institution with which Alan Gailey was involved for all of his professional life. He was there at its foundation, contributed to its formative years and finally directed its success as one of the finest in the folk museum genre. In the words of the editor, this volume of essays "commemorate[s] his invaluable contribution both to the development of the Ulster Folk Life and Transport Museum and to the advancement of folk life studies in Ulster and beyond." He was appointed as a graduate research officer in 1960, and was involved from the outset in the formulation of policy. In 1975 he became Keeper of Non-Material Culture, and eventually succeeded George Thompson as Director in 1986, a post that he held until his retirement in 1996. This collection follows the general code for the genre and includes a wide-ranging list of topics related to the field of folk life studies. Symposiums compiled in honour of a distinguished scholar seem by their very nature to shy away from...