Cultures and Lifestyles Revealed through Vernacular Interiors: Case Studies from Ireland

Henry Glassie’s classic book, Passing the Time published in 1982 eloquently and highly readably integrates his informants’ life stories with ethnography to provide insights into the generations of families who had occupied Irish vernacular houses. Some recent work has also given attention to interiors, but detailed studies, beyond some measured surveys and limited photography, are rare. In this context, this paper examines three houses with unusually well-preserved historic interiors, to unravel the lives of the inhabitants and the richness of the interiors, the death of whose last owners have prompted recent academic attention. The research employs case study as a research method. It then uses documentation of the interiors and the histories of selected families as well as interviews as research techniques to examine the complex existence of the vernacular Irish house interiors. It approaches each interior largely from a museological and sociohistorical point; histories of the families of two houses have been recorded, with professional oral recording of an interview with one occupant. All the three houses have had complete collections of furniture, fittings and personal items. One house has had a preliminary assessment carried out and items repaired as needed; a second, the most liveable, had received both academic and public attention; and the third has had a full inventory carried out, with some objects deposited in a local museum and others in the National Museum of Ireland. The findings highlight the need for these vernacular architecture interiors to be documented thoroughly. They divulge not only the organization of spaces and the furniture within them, but reveal the complexities of the lives of the families. The assemblages constitute the biographies of the occupants themselves. Indeed, they also offer deep insights into the intricate relations among the spaces, objects and people whose everyday lives unfold cultures and life styles, and enrich the society.