Graduating with a degree in Celtic Studies from University College Dublin, he founded the Folklore of Ireland Society in 1926 and was involved with the foundation of its magazine 'Béaloideas' the following year.
The Commission operated under the aegis of the Department of Education, and aimed to collect, preserve and classify all aspects of Irish folk tradition in a systematic manner.
One of its first projects was the Schools’ Collection Scheme 1937, which was a voluntary nationwide attempt to rescue 'from oblivion the traditions…of the historic Irish nation.’[3] Operated through the National Schools system, it resulted in a collection of about a half a million manuscript pages of folklore, now housed in the Department of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin.
In the early 1960s, he collaborated with Anthony T. Lucas, the director of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), to create and circulate a questionnaire on the uses of hay, rushes, and straw.
It was sent to 150 people, and from the results, Lucas embarked on an extensive collecting programme in the NMI for objects made of these materials.