A chapter attempting a discussion of oral history and tradition as a source for the study of the Irish Famine must surely start with a story. This story was told to me by my mother about her own maternal grandmother, Mary Skehan, the wife of a comfortable farmer in the upland region of north Waterford. In a tradition passed down to her daughter and her granddaughters, Mary was presented as a woman of great generosity. During the Famine, so my mother told me, Mary Skehan was never known to turn a poor person away from her door and yet, despite her constant giving, her meal-bin was never empty. She died when my mother was a child – almost a century ago – yet the story lives on, transmitted by me to my children and to anyone else who cares to listen. So here we have an authentic piece of oral history about the Great Famine. Or do we? Is this story oral history? And is it about the Famine?

Oral History and Oral Tradition

This piece of family lore, its theme of generosity rewarded familiar in all folklores, illustrates many of the complexities of the oral as a source for historical research. In the first place, it raises questions regarding the distinction between oral history – the first-hand evidence of individuals – and oral tradition – tales passed on from one generation to the next.