THE School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University has suffered a

tragic loss with the untimely death of Dr Alan Bruford, the eminent

folklorist and Celtic scholar, who was a senior member of its staff.

Dr Bruford was born on May 10, 1937. He was the son of Professor

Walter Bruford, who was instrumental in the founding of the school in

the late 40s.

Dr Bruford joined it as research/archivist in January 1965, but from

the start he interpreted his duties -- greatly to the benefit of the

school's work -- in a much broader light than simple archiving.

He found waiting for him the vast treasure-house of Gaelic recordings

made by Dr Calum I Mclean -- younger brother of Sorley -- which needed

to be catalogued, and also the immense store of lowland Scots material

which had accumulated through the '50s, largely because of the work done

with the Aberdeenshire travelling folk, including Jeannie Robertson.

Thanks to the tape recorder, the speed of collecting work had vastly

outstripped the ability of the school's workers to get on top of the

material, but thanks to Dr Bruford's labours the archive was gradually

brought under control.

When the school's first teaching programme began in 1971 -- the course

was called Oral Literature and Popular Tradition -- it became evident

what a skilful communicator the school had in Dr Bruford; in subsequent

years a whole company of Scottish ethnology students can thank him for

invaluable help and guidance.

Despite the massive burden of work in the school, Dr Bruford was able,

over the years, to contribute a number of excellent articles on various

aspects of Celtic folklore to publications across the world.

Cu Chulainn -- An Ill-Made Hero? appeared in Text Und Zeittiese

(Tubingen 1993). In this he made a vigorous defence of his conviction

that the great Irish heroic saga Tin Bo Cuailnge (the cattle-raid of

Cooley) was orignally a written composition by a cleric, although one

with a wide knowledge of historical legends, pagan myths, and

wonder-tales. Here he was carrying forward some of the ideas he had

outlined in his Gaelic Folk-Tales and Mediaeval Romances (Dublin 1969).

In December 1994, Scottish Traditional Tales appeared, which Dr

Bruford edited in conjuction with Mr Donald Archie MacDonald.

It should be added that Dr Bruford did sterling work over the years in

editing the school's magazine Tocher. This has presented to the public a

wide selection of the treasures garnered by the school.

Dr Bruford also undertook much enterprising fieldwork, particularly in

Orkney.

He is survived by his wife, Morag, and his daughter, Elspeth.