Interview with Pat Corbett, 2018
Item Information
- Title:
- Interview with Pat Corbett, 2018
- Description:
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BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE: Pat Corbett (Pádraig Ó Coirbín), son of Patrick Corbett and Mary Flaherty, and nephew of the well-known storyteller Mícheál Ó Coirbín, was born on January 22, 1940 and raised together with four brothers and five sisters in Dooyeher, Connemara, Co. Galway. He attended school in Ard up to age 13, worked as a fisherman, and emigrated to Boston in 1961. He worked for Boston Wharf Real Estate Company, Felton Distillery, Bay Construction, Boston Housing (including construction of the New England Aquarium), and on several carpentry projects before retiring in 2011. He resided at first in South Boston and Dorchester, and in 1968 married Bridie Felton. The couple moved to Brighton and had two daughters, three sons, and sixteen grandchildren. SUMMARY: Home in Dooyeher with origins of the name, and school at Ard. Mícheál Ó Coirbín and four notable storytellers nearby: their lives and art of memory. Traditional song-singing: Sean Conroy (Seán Val Sheáin ’ic Eoin) and Mícheál a’ Búrc. Healthy seaside and summer pasturage. Superstitions, animals, tales of the weasel and of the newt, and of a wise-woman. Some local turns of phrase, and how to count lobsters. Emigration, early residence, work, union membership, and carpentry. Wednesday evenings at Mission Church with fellow Irish-speakers. The ocean back home and tragedy from the 1952 storm. Stories and verses of Sweeney the mischievous poet. Schooling and poetry by rote. The tale and verse of a beleaguered spinner with his wheel. Local music and dancing, cameraderie after Mission Church novenas, and local Irish social halls. The tale and verse of the weaver’s son. Memory from stories and books. A woman who told the long stories and sang traditional songs. Storytelling and conversation vs. media; preparation for modernity. An early job fishing due to leaving school—the cruelty of teachers and changes in education in Ireland and America. The sun, the moon, and God’s counsel. A verse about the spider and the midge. Humorous songs in an old recording. The moon again, with another verse. The Boston and the Irish Language project investigates the unique importance of Irish in forming persistent bonds among and between Connemara emigrants living in Boston with their families and communities in Ireland through recorded personal interviews. Questions explored include: upbringing through the Irish language, economic and social conditions in Ireland, reasons for emigration or return, adaptation to and participation in life within the United States, changes experienced since arrival, and current use of Irish. The project is sponsored by Cumann na Gaeilge i mBoston (The Irish Language Society of Boston), and supported by a Mass Humanities project grant and the Emigrant Support Programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland.
- Contributor:
- Corbett, Pat
- Contributor:
- Cloherty, Peggy
- Contributor:
- Frykenberg, Brian
- Contributor:
- Cloherty, Joe
- Date:
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December 16, 2018
- Format:
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Documents
Film/Video
- Location:
- University of Massachusetts Boston, Joseph P. Healey Library
- Collection (local):
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Oral History Collections
- Series:
- Boston and the Irish Language: Fifty Years of Cultural Connection in Oral History
- Subjects:
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Brookline (Mass.)
Connemara (Ireland)
Boston (Mass.)
Irish language
Gaeltacht (Ireland)
Irish Americans
Ireland--Emigration and immigration
Corbett, Pat
- Places:
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Ireland > County Galway (county) > Connemara (area)
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
- Link to Item:
- https://openarchives.umb.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15774coll11/id/159
- Terms of Use:
-
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