In 1939 Dr. Heinrich Becker came to Galway to begin his studies on folklore associated with the Galway Bay area. The first place he visited was Claddagh village, where he gathered folklore associated with the long fishing tradition of the Claddagh.
As well as talking to people from the locality, he also brought he camera, taking snapshots of the Village at an interesting time, when it was in transition from the traditional fishing village at the edge of Galway - almost a place apart - being transformed by the social housing programme of the late 1930s brought in by the government.
As well as examples of the new housing, he also took photographs of examples of the older houses, many of which were abandoned at that stage.
In the background of some of the photographs shows the well-known Long Walk across the river Corrib from the Claddagh.
Perhaps one of the nicest photographs shows three boys in the corner of the photograph peering intently into the window of a sweet shop.
There are over 10,000 photographs, slides, negatives and contact prints in the collection, and it is the intention to have these described, scanned, and available for consultation in the coming months. In the meantime keep an eye on the blog here for more photographs from this fascinating collection.
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