The Charles William Dunn Collection of Scottish Gaelic Fieldwork Recordings

Charles DunnThe Dunn collection at Harvard is one of the most significant collections of Scottish Gaelic folklore recordings in North America. Charles William Dunn, who chaired the Harvard Celtic Department from 1962 to 1984, began collecting Scottish Gaelic folklore in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1941. Over the years, material collected by Dunn and others, including John Shaw, A. R. MacKinnon and D. K. Ripley, in Nova Scotia, Québec, and Ontario, was added to the collection. One of Dunn’s doctoral students, Nancy Rose Dunkly, compiled an index that covers the earlier part of the collection (the Dunkly list).

Dunkly list (PDF file covering recordings included in Dunn 1 and Dunn 2)

Dunn 1

Hollis title: Scottish Gaelic field recordings, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia [field work collection]
URL: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/011145307/catalog
Series: Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library (acquisition #1378)
Number of reels: 9
Contents: Scottish Gaelic folklore collected from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1941
Collector: Charles W. Dunn

Dunn 2

Hollis title: Scottish Gaelic field recordings, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia [field work collection]
URL: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/011188255/catalog
Series: Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library (acquisition #1379)
Number of reels: 20 (numbered 4-23)
Contents: Material collected from Scottish Gaelic speakers in various locations in Eastern Canada
Collector: Charles W. Dunn (reels 1-12), A. R. MacKinnon (reel 13); John Shaw (reels 14-23)

Dunn 3

Hollis title: Scottish Gaelic Recorded in Broad Cove, Nova Scotia [field work collection]
URL: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/011288768/catalog
Series: Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library (acquisition #1728)
Number of reels: 7
Contents: Scottish Gaelic folk music recorded at concerts and similar venues in Cape Breton, NS
Collector: Charles Dunn (?)

Dunn 4

Hollis title: Scottish Gaelic songs: Lauchie Gillis collection [field work collection]
URL: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/011188831/catalog
Series: Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library (acquisition #1383)
Number of reels: 3
Contents: Scottish Gaelic material recorded by Lauchie Gilllis in Grand Mira, Cape Breton, for Charles Dunn in 1969.

Dunn 5

Hollis title: Scottish Gaelic folk culture: conversations, songs, and recitations [field work collection]
URL: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/011188732/catalog
Series: Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library (acquisition #1381)
Number of reels: 1
Contents: Oral history and folk culture in Gaelic and English collected in Kincardine, Ontario
Collector: Dr. A.R. MacKinnon, Simon Fraser of University, Vancouver, BC

Dunn 6

Hollis title: Scottish sermon [field work collection]
URL: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/010889880/catalog
Series: Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library (acquisition #1377)
Number of reels: 2
Contents: Church service (including sermon and singing) in Scottish Gaelic
Collector: Charles W. Dunn (?)

Dunn 7

Hollis title: Scottish Gaelic collected by David K. Ripley [field work collection]
URL: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/011289071/catalog
Series: Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library (acquisition #1806)
Number of reels: 17
Contents: Songs in Scottish Gaelic and English; storytelling and reminiscences in English, collected before 1975 in Scotsville, Cape Breton and other locations
Collector: David K. Ripley

Dunn 8

Hollis title: Scottish religious songs [field work collection]
URL: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/010889832/catalog
Series: Celtic Dept. audio collection at Harvard Library (acquisition #1376)
Number of reels: 1
Contents: Religious songs and hymns in Scottish Gaelic (titles in English)