Research Guides: Library Research Guide for Celtic Languages and Literatures: Audiovisual Materials

What are audiovisual materials?

Audiovisual (AV) materials present information through the senses, rather than though merely printed words. Sound recordings, video recordings, oral histories, film, documentaries, broadcasts, presentations, television, and radio are all audiovisual materials.

Resources at Harvard

Celtic Department Audio Collection

Irish

Harvard has a small collection of audio recordings of Irish folklore materials collected at Harvard and in Rannafast, Co. Donegal, Ireland in the 1970s. The materials include oral histories, folktales, and songs, in both Irish and English.

Joe Heaney at Harvard 2/8/75 :[field work collection] : Irish songs and stories

Description: 2 sound discs
Contents: A performance of stories in English, and songs in Irish and English by Irish singer Joe Heaney (Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, 1919-1984) at Harvard on 8 February 1975.

Untitled materials collected in Donegal, Ireland

Description: 2 sound reels
Contents: Irish folklore material collected in Rannafast, County Donegal, Ireland in August 1974. This material also contains some Welsh-language recordings and is part of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature at Harvard series. The material has yet to be digitized.

Oidhche Sheanchais

Creation date: 1935
Description: 2 DVDs (run time: 13:37)
Contents: The first sound film in the Irish language. The film is a documentary in which the famous seanchai (storyteller) Tomas Ó Diorain tells tales of the sea. The film was directed by Robert Flaherty, and was sponsored and written by the government through the Department of Education.

Welsh

Harvard has a collection of audio recordings of Welsh folklore materials collected in South Wales and in the Welsh colony in Patagonia in South America in the 1960s and 1970s. The materials include oral history, folktales, poems, and songs, in Welsh and English.

The Welsh colony in Patagonia :[field recordings

Description: 11 sound reels
Contents: Welsh folklore collected in Patagonia in South America in the 1960s.

[Patagonian project I :field recordings

Description: 8 sound reels
Contents: Welsh poems and songs collected in Patagonia in South America in July and August of 1968.

[Patagonian project II :field recordings

Description: 15 sound reels
Contents: Welsh folklore, including oral history and songs, collected in Gaiman, Patagonia in South America in July and August of 1968.

Oral history of coal mining disputes in South Wales :[field work collection]

Description: 7 sound reels
Contents: Oral history of coal mining in South Wales, in Welsh and English.

Untitled materials collected in Aberystwyth and Machynlleth, Wales

Description: 2 sound reels
Contents: Welsh folklore material collected in Aberystwyth and Machynlleth, Wales in June and July 1974. This material also contains some Irish-language recordings and is part of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature at Harvard series. The material has yet to be digitized.

Scottish Gaelic

Harvard has a collection of audio recordings of Scottish Gaelic folklore materials collected in Nova Scotia, Québec, and Ontario in the second half of the twentieth century. The materials, known collectively as the Charles William Dunn Collection, include oral histories, folktales, folk music, a sermon, and hymns, in both Scottish Gaelic and English.

[Scottish Gaelic field recordings, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia] :[field work collection]

Description: 9 sound reels
Contents: Scottish Gaelic folklore collected in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1941.

[Scottish Gaelic field recordings from Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario] :[field work collection]

Description: 20 sound reels
Contents: Scottish Gaelic traditions, stories, and songs collected in Nova Scotia, Québec, and Ontario.

Scottish Gaelic :[traditional music recorded in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Description: 7 sound reels
Contents: Scottish Gaelic folklore collected in Broad Cove, Iona, Glendale, and Saint Joseph du Moine, Nova Scotia.

[Scottish Gaelic traditional music] :[field work collection]

Description: 3 sound reels
Contents: Scottish Gaelic songs collected in Grand Mira, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1969.

[Scottish Gaelic folk culture :[field work collection] : conversations, songs, and recitations]

Description: 1 sound reel
Contents: Oral history and songs in Scottish Gaelic and English collected in Kincardine, Ontario.

Scottish Gaelic religious sermon and songs] :[field work collection]

Description: 2 sound reels
Contents: A religious service, including a sermon and songs, in Scottish Gaelic.

Scottish Gaelic :[field work collection

Description: 17 sound reels
Contents: Oral history and stories in English, and songs in Scottish Gaelic and English collected in Scotsville, Cape Breton in the 1960s.

[Scottish Gaelic religious songs] :[field work collection]

Description: 1 sound reel
Contents: Religious songs in Scottish Gaelic.

How to find?

These collections are part of the Celtic Department Audio Collection at Harvard Library series. They are located in Widener Library offsite storage.

How to find the collections in the library catalog:

Open HOLLIS, Harvard's library catalog.
Above the search bar, there are options for different types of searches. Select Advanced Search.
An expanded search box will appear. At the top of the search box is the text Search for and options to search the entire system or to limit the search to only materials which Harvard holds. There are also the options to search for reserves or by barcode. Select Library Catalog. This will limit the search to only materials which Harvard holds.
In the expanded search box is the text Search Filters. Below this text is a row of three search boxes. The first box limits what the search will look at (e.g. author names, titles, etc.). Click the downward arrow in the first box and select Series from the dropdown menu. This tells the search to look for a series.
The second box limits whether the search looks at everything which contains the words searched for, or whether the search only looks at things which match the search words exactly. Click the downward arrow in the second box and select contains from the drop-down menu. This tells the search to include any series which contain at least part of the series title searched for.
The third box is where search words are entered. The audio recordings are all in the series called "Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library". Type Celtic Dept. audio collection in the third box.
Select the Search button in the bottom right corner of the expanded search box.

This search will retrieve all the materials in the Celtic Department Audio Collection at Harvard Library.

The search can be further narrowed down by language or place by selecting the options in the Refine my results panel down the right side of the screen.

How to access?

Materials in these collections are on sound tape reels, DAT sound cassettes, and sound discs. These have been converted to digital audio files and are available online through Harvard Library.

How to access the collections:

Select the collection titles above. Each title links to the HOLLIS catalog record for the selected materials. The catalog records contain links to the digital audio files.

Open HOLLIS, Harvard's library catalog.
Follow the steps in the "How to find?" section above to find the catalog records for all of the materials in the Celtic Department Audio Collection OR type in the title for a specific group of reels to find the catalog record for those specific materials. Select the catalog record for the desired materials. The catalog record will contain links to the digital audio files for those sound reels.

Celtic Audiovisual Collections

Kanopy

Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video service for educational institutions that works directly with filmmakers and film distribution companies to offer thousands of award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases across diverse subjects and disciplines. Collections include titles from the DEFA Film Library, ArtMattan Films, HBO, Frameline, Ruscico, Pragda, BBC, Flicker Alley, National Film Board of Canada, First Run Features, Cinema Libre Studio, New Day Films, and the Criterion Collection/Janus Films. This database provides access to more than 26,000 films and documentaries from a variety of independent filmmakers and distributors, including the BBC, PBS and the Criterion Collection.

Library Research Guide for Celtic Languages and Literatures