Framing the West; images of rural Ireland, 1891-1920

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2007

Framing the West; images of rural Ireland, 1891-1920.

Ed. by Ciara Breathnach.

Irish Academic Press

2007

266 pages

$85.00

Hardcover

DA950

This collection put together by Breathnach (U. of Limerick, Ireland) aims to demonstrate the value of photographic images as historical evidence for scholars of Ireland. Drawing largely on the works of commercial photographer Robert J. Welch (1859-1936), 14 contributions discuss the history of photography in Ireland and explore what photography tells us about the social and economic history of the West of Ireland between 1890 and 1920. Topics addressed include the use of photography in Irish tourist literature, images of poverty, the cultural relationship between Welch and his subjects, the gender division of labor in commercial fisheries, and agricultural transformation of the Irish landscape. Distributed in the US by ISBS.

([c]20072005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)