Unlocking the Celtic Collector; The Mind, Methods and Materials of Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912).
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Information Services
Abstract
The Carmichael Watson manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library, centred on the papers of the pioneering folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912), are the foremost collection of their kind in Scotland, a multifaceted compendium of crucial significance to understanding the customs, beliefs, storytelling traditions, poetry, songs, material culture, and general lore of the Gaelic-speaking areas. One of the most comprehensive and variegated archives in existence, the collection offers us fundamentally important insights into the creation of Carmichael's magnum opus, Carmina Gadelica, his anthology of Hebridean charms, hymns and songs, which forms a key text in Gaelic ethnology and in the creation of the 'Celtic Twilight' movement. It carries great potential as a scholarly research resource which goes far beyond the realms of literary studies, with material of direct relevance to a wide range of academic disciplines.
The collection is inherently complex, but it also exhibits the full gamut of scholarly & archival obstacles, including inadequate indexing, displacement of manuscripts, chaotic sequences of material and Carmichael's 'scrawl'. The effect has been to render the collection inaccessible and difficult to navigate, with the result that the many research problems and potential uses of the collection have not been subjected to academic evaluation.
The overall goal is to unlock the character and motivations of Carmichael, and to understand his contribution as a leading Gaelic figure and cultural broker in Scotland, and in the networks of the wider contemporary pan-Celtic movement. It will build on the success of phase one, which allowed construction of initial pathways into the collection, and phase two, which is testing the methodological principles and archival practices involved in developing the collection for research usage.
The main objectives are to answer fundamental research questions relating to the authenticity of the Carmina Gadelica (facilitated by a range of on-line resources), stimulate the research community, establish the extent of interaction with the wider pan-Celtic network and carry out comparative studies in related collections.
The benefits of the completed project will be wide-ranging. The potency of Carmichael's published work in shaping popular conceptions of 'Gaels', 'Celts' and 'Celtic Christianity' will be examined in the context of the manuscript collection, and is of immense significance to 'Celticism' and our understanding of how Celtic Studies was created. There are few collections which have exerted such a formative influence on the making of perceptions and concepts of 'Celts' and 'Celticism' / or raised so many issues for scholarly enquiry.
This project will complement and enhance major current research projects in Celtic and Scottish Studies at Edinburgh. These include the Calum MacLean Project (funded by the AHRC) and the inter-university projects, Faclair na Gaidhlig (Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic on Historical Principles), and Tobar an Dualchais (Kist o' Riches).
The project will stimulate enquiry in the Gaelic communities in which Carmichael was active, thus building on the 2006 Carmichael conference in Benbecula, and taking Carmichael 'back' to the people. It will interact closely with the concerns of Irish and Welsh scholars anxious to elucidate the impact of the Romantic movement on collecting and analysis in their countries.
As well as facilitating the main thrust of the research effort, the developed ICT aspects of the project will provide a robust set of on-line tools and web-based resources that will allow unprecedented exploration and exploitation of a resource of immense significance, not only for Celtic and Scottish Studies, but also for a wide range of academic disciplines within the broader research communities of the UK and far beyond (notably the Continent, Ireland, and the USA).
The collection is inherently complex, but it also exhibits the full gamut of scholarly & archival obstacles, including inadequate indexing, displacement of manuscripts, chaotic sequences of material and Carmichael's 'scrawl'. The effect has been to render the collection inaccessible and difficult to navigate, with the result that the many research problems and potential uses of the collection have not been subjected to academic evaluation.
The overall goal is to unlock the character and motivations of Carmichael, and to understand his contribution as a leading Gaelic figure and cultural broker in Scotland, and in the networks of the wider contemporary pan-Celtic movement. It will build on the success of phase one, which allowed construction of initial pathways into the collection, and phase two, which is testing the methodological principles and archival practices involved in developing the collection for research usage.
The main objectives are to answer fundamental research questions relating to the authenticity of the Carmina Gadelica (facilitated by a range of on-line resources), stimulate the research community, establish the extent of interaction with the wider pan-Celtic network and carry out comparative studies in related collections.
The benefits of the completed project will be wide-ranging. The potency of Carmichael's published work in shaping popular conceptions of 'Gaels', 'Celts' and 'Celtic Christianity' will be examined in the context of the manuscript collection, and is of immense significance to 'Celticism' and our understanding of how Celtic Studies was created. There are few collections which have exerted such a formative influence on the making of perceptions and concepts of 'Celts' and 'Celticism' / or raised so many issues for scholarly enquiry.
This project will complement and enhance major current research projects in Celtic and Scottish Studies at Edinburgh. These include the Calum MacLean Project (funded by the AHRC) and the inter-university projects, Faclair na Gaidhlig (Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic on Historical Principles), and Tobar an Dualchais (Kist o' Riches).
The project will stimulate enquiry in the Gaelic communities in which Carmichael was active, thus building on the 2006 Carmichael conference in Benbecula, and taking Carmichael 'back' to the people. It will interact closely with the concerns of Irish and Welsh scholars anxious to elucidate the impact of the Romantic movement on collecting and analysis in their countries.
As well as facilitating the main thrust of the research effort, the developed ICT aspects of the project will provide a robust set of on-line tools and web-based resources that will allow unprecedented exploration and exploitation of a resource of immense significance, not only for Celtic and Scottish Studies, but also for a wide range of academic disciplines within the broader research communities of the UK and far beyond (notably the Continent, Ireland, and the USA).