Iorwerth C. Peate

Iorwerth C. Peate's outstanding achievement was to create a National Folk Museum at St. Fagans. It was Peate who dreamt of an open-air museum in Wales on the Scandinavian model where the visitor could view the way of life of past ages. It was he, too, more than anyone else, who strove to see the dream realized and to establish the study of folk life as a respected academic discipline in Britain. The story of these accomplishments, and of the opposition Peate encountered--within the National Museum of Wales, for example--is lucidly outlined by Catrin Stevens. She also presents a clear and useful appraisal of Peate's academic writing in the field of folk studies.