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Audio Recording Father Sarsfield O'Sullivan, Irish American priest in Butte, Montana, first interview, part 1

Father Sarsfield O'Sullivan, Irish priest

About this Item

Title

  • Father Sarsfield O'Sullivan, Irish American priest in Butte, Montana, first interview, part 1

Names

  • Stanton, Gary Ward, 1946- (Collector)
  • Johnson, Paula J., 1954- (Collector)
  • Toelken, Barre, 1935- (Collector)
  • O' Sullivan, Sarsfield (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Butte, Montana, August 26, 1979

Headings

  • -  Poetry
  • -  Irish Americans
  • -  Folk songs, Irish
  • -  Manners and customs
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Sound recordings
  • -  United States -- Montana -- Butte

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Field recordings
  • Interviews
  • Sound recordings

Notes

  • -  Index data: Part 1 of a 5-part recording session with Father Sarsfield O'Sullivan at the St. Lawrence O'Toole Roman Catholic Church rectory in Butte MT: about songs (Irish), people from Wicklow who worked in England before coming to Butte, Evil Knievel's mother is of that stock, have their own songs that reflect time spent in England; about singing Irish songs in grade school and being sent to all the classrooms because his Irish Gaelic was so unusual; the songs Knievels sang also unusual, turn-of-the-century music hall songs like "Mathilda Bunkins"; O'Sullivan's grandmother sang "The Boston Burglar"; songs like "The Regular Armio" were carried back to Ireland by survivors who fought "the wild Indeens"; part of "The Regular Armio" heard on tape: "We went to Arizona to fight the Indians there"; once Irish got to Butte, songs exchanged in bars; O'Sullivan hums tune of a street ballad from Dublin, "The Night Before Larry was Stretched," wake song with bawdy language; about Mike Hughes's version of songs. O'Sullivan would hear his father Sean's version, then later an unexpurgated version; reward for father for running errands as a child, on island Inish Farnard); ask people for a tune or ballad instead of other payment; people insulated on that island and proud of Irish Gaelic, this was not so among Irish people on the mainland, nor among Irish who came to Butte; the church saw Gaelic as a hindrance: "Americanize as soon as possible"; the hope of Irish but not German bishops, "Unfortunately, the Irish bishops won out"; their philosophy was Anglicize in Ireland, Americanize in America; some folk traditions that Sarsfield's maternal grandmother looked upon darkly included blessing things like a sore knee, blessing children, blessings for all sorts of things; when Gaelic died out, so did blessings; there were special prayers the in the morning, and at night; toasts for special occasions: a health to the hero who spread his arms on the tree of passion, a health to the woman who bore a son without a husband, and a health to St. Patrick who blessed Ireland, and a toast his father used on lesser occasions, a health to old Ireland and to hell with the king; story of Father Legree and "Frenchtown"; Indian woman gives cream for Archbishop's coffee, without the Archbishop knowing where it carne from; story of Irishman moving to Montana to get away from drink in the east, the Island of Inish Farnard; most in Butte are from "Barony" of Berra [Beara]; book for background, Hungry Hill [Daphne du Maurier], English point of view; poem by father (Sean), on politicians in Butte hiring bands to play different tunes according to ethnic neighborhoods in Butte; immigration from the east was tremendous; maternal grandmother lived in Boston, loved everything American, mother's father thought America was a good place to make money, but he wanted to get back to Ireland, he saw the mines and knew how hard the work was, how dangerous, died before he could get back to Ireland; talking about the tradition of singing on Inish Farnard; Sean O'Sullivan born in 1882, had a vast repertory, from the time of Chaucer to the present; Sean liked to recite poetry by Charles O'Daly, local poet, Sean could have been the last treasure house of certain items from that tradition; song "The County of Mayo," the Herbert Hughes version has the word "buckles" where the O'Sullivan version has word "bochel," which O'Sullivan says is Gaelic for "young man" and makes sense in rest of the sentence.

Medium

  • 7-inch reel

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1981/005: AFS 20436
  • MBRS shelflist: RXA 0922
  • Field project identifier: MT9-GS-R51

Source Collection

  • Montana Folklife Survey collection (AFC 1981/005)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use or reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

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Credit line: Montana Folklife Survey collection (AFC 1981/005), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Stanton, Gary Ward, Paula J Johnson, Barre Toelken, and Sarsfield O' Sullivan. Father Sarsfield O'Sullivan, Irish American priest in Butte, Montana, first interview, part 1. Butte, Montana, 1979. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981005_afs20436/.

APA citation style:

Stanton, G. W., Johnson, P. J., Toelken, B. & O' Sullivan, S. (1979) Father Sarsfield O'Sullivan, Irish American priest in Butte, Montana, first interview, part 1. Butte, Montana. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981005_afs20436/.

MLA citation style:

Stanton, Gary Ward, et al. Father Sarsfield O'Sullivan, Irish American priest in Butte, Montana, first interview, part 1. Butte, Montana, 1979. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc1981005_afs20436/>.