Research in Cambridge sheds new light on Haddon and his role in the Irish Ethnographic Survey 1891-1903

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Ciaran Walsh researching the Haddon papers in Cambridge University Library. The photograph shows freelance curator Ciarán Walsh at work in the Manuscripts Room in the Library. He is surrounded by documents from one of the files containing uncatalogued material dating form the early 1890s when Haddon was active in the Irish Ethnographic Survey 1891-1903, the subject of the 'Irish Headhunter' project curated by Ciarán Walsh in 2012/3. He is trying to piece together the archive of the Irish Ethnographic Survey as part of a research project called 'Haddon in Ireland.' a project being developed in association with the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge and NationalUniversity of Ireland Maynooth. The research was funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland.
Ciarán Walsh at work in the Manuscripts Room in the Library. He is surrounded by documents from one of the files containing uncatalogued material dating form the early 1890s when Haddon was active in the Irish Ethnographic Survey 1891-1903.

'Haddon in Ireland.&#039 is a research project that is trying to piece together the archive of the Irish Ethnographic Survey 1891-1903, a project being developed in association with the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge and National University of Ireland Maynooth. The initial research in Cambridge has been funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland.http://rpk-tramplin.ru

Walsh recently spent ten days going through uncatalogued material relating relating to the Survey in the photographic collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as well as the manuscripts in Cambridge University. Working closely with Dr. Jocelyne Dudding (Manager of the photographic collection), Aidan Baker (Haddon Librarian) and John Pickles (former Haddon Librarian) Walsh discovered a lot of material – photographs and manuscripts – that shed a lot of light on the administration of the survey and the early development of ethnology in Ireland in the late 1880s and the early 1890s.

The results will feature strongly in a panel on Haddon and the Survey which has been organised by Walsh, Dudding and Dr. Mark Maguire of NUI Maynooth as part of the Royal Anthropological Institute’s conference on Photography and Anthropology which is taking place at the end of May.