Ken Nilsen's Home Page

Fàilte / Welcome 

Ken Nilsen is Professor and Chairman of the Celtic Studies Department and holder of the Sister Saint Veronica Chair of Gaelic Studies at St. Francis Xavier University. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College and has a Masters degree and Phd. in Celtic Studies from Harvard University.

He teaches courses in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, Celtic literature and folklore. His research interests include the Celtic languages in North America. He has recorded on audio and video tape native speakers of Scottish and Irish Gaelic, Breton and Welsh, in Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, Wales and North America (for two short samples of PEI Gaelic go here). Since 1987 he has contributed over sixty-five Gaelic pieces to the Antigonish weekly Casket which consist of material he has collected from Danny Cameron of Malden, Massachusetts, one of the last speakers of mainland Nova Scotia Gaelic. (For a children's rhyme recited by Danny Cameron  click here.)   His publications are available here.

Gaelic was first taught at STFX in 1891 and the Celtic Studies Department was established in the 1960s. A brief history of the St. F. X. Celtic Studies Department is available here.
 
Here is a small collection of photographs he has taken of Gaelic signs in Nova Scotia.
If you would like to take a look go here .

If you would like to take a look at some of his photographs of Gaelic signs taken in Ireland go here
 

If you want to find some more information on Gaelic culture and language I recommend you take a look at these sites:

Fàilt' ort gu Sabhal Mór Ostaig

 Gaelic Home Page from Sunsite

 U of Stirling Home Page in Gaelic

 Màiri Sìne Lamond, a Graduate of Celtic Studies at StFX

Gaelic-L

 Selected Scottish

Dr. Ken Nilsen                                  Voice:  (902) 867-2116       
Professor                                       Fax:    (902) 867-5395        
Celtic Studies Department                       Email: knilsen@stfx.ca 
St. Francis Xavier University                   XEL:    http://cwaves.stfx.ca   
P. O. Box 5000                                  St F X: http://www.stfx.ca 
Antigonish, N. S. B2G 2W5

To see Dr. K. Nilsen's office hours go here.

Updated 04/07/2000
If you wish to Contact me, you can do so by clicking on the link:  knilsen@stfx.ca