Kenneth Peacock's collection done from 1951 - 1961 or so has a 3 vol. book setfrom 1965... and Anna Kearney Guigne has two books that build on the collection... I do have some of Fowke's works and the Smithsonian/Folkways recordings as well...

forgottenBooks.com has quite a list of public domain volumes that is worth checking out... I'm a dinosaur and prefer to get my hands on print material or recordings... lol

the GEST site has tons of material in an assortment of forms and some have more background than others

one book I read in our library was printed in the 1960s with a title about Songs of Irish Emigration - can't recall exactly- that I've never been able to track down again... it included Sally Munroe which I had learned from an early Boys of the Lough album and gave the history of the wreck....

I'll be sure to PM you with questions as they come up lol