The Irish Folklore Commission was set up in 1935 by the Irish Government to study and collect information on the folklore and traditions of Ireland. The Commission was responsible for the collection and preservation of Irish folk tradition of all forms, with the additional tasks of cataloguing the material under classification.

Among the Irish Folklore Commission's collections are written interviews recorded between 1937 and 1939. Known collectively as The School's Collection, these interviews were conducted by more than 50,000 school children from all primary schools in the South of Ireland. The 1,128 volumes include written accounts are sorted of daily life as well as regional folklore and stories as told by the interviewees. This was instigated by 2 members of the Commission who publicized the scheme and explained to teachers what folklore was and how to properly collect it. They met with principal teachers, who then explained to the children how to collect the folklore for the collection. From September to June, each week the teacher would choose a heading and read out the questions, and the children would copy it down and question their family members and neighbors. In June 1939, its annual report stated that there were collectively 375,660 pages of books from the schools.

High Park school is well represented in the Collection, with Principal teacher Owen O'Connell making sure that plenty of material was gathered by his pupils, including his two eldest children !