Figure 2

Citation

anonymous photographer. “Man and boy with Irish bodhran and fiddle.” circa 1850. Greg French Collection. Mirror of Race, 22 Jan. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/101. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Title

Man and boy with Irish bodhran and fiddle

Subject

Man and boy with Irish bodhran and fiddle

Creator

anonymous photographer

Date

circa 1850

Type

Studio Portrait

Identifier

Figure 2

Rights Holder

Greg French Collection

Original Format

Daguerreotype

Factual Commentary

We can be quite confident that these are an Irish man and boy, possibly (even probably) recent immigrants, because of the very distinct style of drum that the man holds. It is an Irish bodhran, played with a short wooden striker that is twirled by the fingers, and which can just be seen as a blur in the man’s hand. Thousands upon thousands of Irish left Ireland for America during the Potato Famines, around the time this photograph was taken (cir cal 1850). They faced often intense discrimination for their religion, and Protestant Anglo-Saxons often did not accept the Irish as properly “white.”