The Irish Folklore Commission (Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann in Irish) was set up in 1935 by the Irish Government to study and collect information on the folklore and traditions of Ireland. History Séamus Ó Duilearga (James Hamilton Delargy) founded An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann (The Folklore of Ireland Society) and its journal Béaloideas in 1927. Ó Duilearga prescribed a guideline for gathered oral tradition, for example, insisting that the collected data identified the informant's name and age as well as provenance of material. The Society would not only edit and publish the collected folklore, but endeavor to supply a translation or at least a summary in English or some suitable language. It was a call for the preservation of Irish folklore, and his countrymen heeded the appeal by sending in manuscripts to the Society, and these material would be published in the Béaloideas periodical. Public sentiment mounted that such a grave undertaking should not be left entirely to a voluntary society, and the Irish government established the Institiúid Bhéaloideas Éireann (The Irish Folk Institute) in 1930, to be headed by Ó Duilearga, with other board members of An Cumann recruited alongside. A few years later in 1935, the Irish Folklore Commission (Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann) was formed by the government when its precursor was deemed inadequate, and a larger organization which was better equipped felt needed. Ó Duilearga was appointed honorary director of the commission, and led its effort. The Commission continued its work by that name until 1971 when it was superseded by the Department of Irish Folklore the University College, Dublin. The department has since served as a repository of the data collected, including the Irish Folklore Collection, which later became the National Folklore Collection, at the UCD Delargy Centre for Irish Folklore and the National Folklore Collection. Work and legacy The commission was responsible for the collection of preservation of Irish folk tradition of all forms, with the additional tasks of cataloguing the material under classification, their study and exposition. With funding at a limit, the commission was often limited to six to nine collectors. While graduate and university students could be of great help as collectors, the commission was focused on Ireland's diverse populations. They went to fisherman, primary teachers, as well as professional collectors with the idea that "anyone who does go among the people must go among them as one of themselves and have no high-faluting