Blúiríní Béaloidis 42 - Passing the Time (with Henry Glassie)

Henry Glassie is College Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and has published widely in the fields of material culture and vernacular architecture. His contribution to the discipline of Irish Folklore and Ethnology has been exceptional. Having lived in Ballymenone, Co. Fermanagh, for almost a decade in the 1970s, Professor Glassie published a number of studies inspired by the community there, including All Silver and No Brass (1975), Passing the Time in Ballymenone (1982) and The Stars of Ballymenone (2006). These books are landmark works which have become classic texts for students of Folklore in Ireland and abroad, along with many other items on Professor Glassie’s long list of publications. Henry has rendered invaluable service to our understanding of Irish popular tradition and vernacular culture, and he can truly be described as a towering figure in the study of Irish Folklore for more than half a century. Even in his retirement, he remains a staunch and committed friend to Ireland and to the people he worked with while carrying out fieldwork here. Henry has had a long and extremely positive relationship with UCD since the establishment of the Department of Irish Folklore in the university in the early 1970s. With the approach of the fiftieth anniversary of his first major publication on Irish Folklore, All Silver and No Brass, it was deemed especially appropriate for the University to take the opportunity to honour Professor Glassie, and on Wednesday 21 May 2025, Henry was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from UCD, in recognition of his remarkable contribution to the growing area of Irish Studies in general, and to the field of Irish Folklore and Ethnology in particular. It was a great honour and personal privilege for me to sit and 'Pass the Time' with Henry, and over the course of ninety minutes we explored his background, interests, intellectual life, and experiences of field work, as well as delving into the topics of place, creativity, art, meaning, identity, belonging and despair; invoking old friends such as Fred B. Kniffen, E. Estyn Evans, Michael J. Murphy, Seán Ó Súilleabháin, Ellen Cutler, Tommy Love, Michael Boyle, Peter Flanagan, and Hugh Nolan as we trooped our way homewards. My thanks to all my colleagues at the NFC, as well as Susan Lysaght, Sandra Collins, Evelyn Flanagan, Andrew Fogarty, Veronica Aguilar Olmos, Dominic Martella for making this episode possible, and - most especially - to Henry and Pravina for their generosity, openness and kindness.