Roundtable Event Saturday, December 5

Irish Immigrants & County Associations in

NYC, 1946-61

Saturday, December 5, at 2-3:30 p.m.

Mother Seton National Shrine (Our Lady of the Rosary Hall),

7 State Street (between Pearl & Whitehall Streets)

opposite Battery Park, Manhattan

Dr. Miriam Nyhan will discuss the unique presence and important roles of Irish county associations in New York City during the years following World War II. The discussion will be based on her extensive research using oral interviews and archival research, and on her analyses of these special associations, their yearly activities, and their enthusiastic participants.

The post World War II era saw a massive exodus of migrants from the island of Ireland. In fact, between 1946 and 1961 approximately 500,000 emigrated: the equivalent of approximately 17% of the population. In New York, county associations played an important role in the Irish communities that greeted the new migrants. These societies provided a means by which immigrants from particular counties could reunite, socialize, and provide contacts or assistance. For many newly arrived migrants, a county association meeting or event was the first port-of-call in the search for permanent housing, jobs, or a familiar accent. Each county, through these organizations, became a guardian to those it represented, and provided invaluable safety valves to the needs of its county-people. The annual calendar of the associations was structured around key events which punctuated the year, with St. Patrick’s Day representing the highlight. As a general rule, larger counties had larger and more vibrant associations – but demographics were not the only indicator of the association strength.

Dr. Miriam Nyhan will discuss the significance that county associations had for post-war immigrants from Ireland. Starting from a premise that we can only understand that wave of immigrants by looking at the Ireland people left and the New York they arrived in, she will clarify the many roles counties associations fulfilled. To widen the focus, experiences of Irish immigrants and county associations in post-war London will also be discussed.

Miriam Nyhan is Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow at Glucksman Ireland House, New York University. She received her M.Phil. from University College, Cork and her Ph.D. from the the European University Institute. Dr. Nyhan is the author of ‘Are You Still Below?’ The Ford Marina Plant, Cork 1917-1984. She has served as a historian for Henry Ford & Son Limited, (Ford Ireland) and is currently Glucksman Ireland House’s oral historian.

Reception to follow.

There is no fee to attend, but

A $3 donation for refreshments in suggested.

All are Welcome!

Colum McCann Winner of the National Book Award

Irish American websites are happily spreading the news today: 

New York resident – and Irish-born novelist Colum McCann has won the prestigious  2009 National Book Award  in Fiction for

                      LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN

 Click here to read the article in the New York Times

Don’t Miss This Story

The New York Times City Room Blog of November 12 reports on the research into the life of Mr. James Jackson of County Kildare whose  1799 gravestone was found recently during work on Washington Square Park.

 

 ”The portrait of Mr. Jackson that has emerged is of a young Irish immigrant to New York City who achieved relative prosperity either as a watchman, a grocer or both. He built a family and became a citizen before succumbing to yellow fever”

 

Read the story  Clues Emerge to Life of Irishman Buried Under Park

By A. G. SULZBERGER  at

 

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/clues-emerge-in-life-of-irishman-buried-under-park/?scp=1&sq=james%20jackson&st=cse

Best Novels of the Year

Amazon.com has issued its list of the Best Books of 2009,  and topping the list in fiction are novels by Irish-born authors.

Let the Great World Spin: A Novel by NY resident  Colum McCann is Number 1!

Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Toibin is Number 4!

Congratulations!

1799 Irish Gravestone Found in Washington Square Park

“Here lies the body of James Jackson who departed this life the 22nd day of September 1799 aged 28 years native of the county of Kildare Ireland.”

So reads the inscription on  a gravestone just discovered during excavation under Washington Square Park.  Historians will be working to learn more about Mr.  Jackson’s life.

Details on the New York Times  City Room blog.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/gravestone-from-1799-is-found-in-washington-square-park/

Lehman College Public Programs

The  Institute for Irish- American Studies at Lehman College/CUNY in the Bronx has a calendar of public programs.

You may find the calendar at:

http://www.irishamericanstudies.com/index.php

The Roundtable’s Fall Program Schedule

Save the Dates!

The Irish Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women

in Domestic Service, 1840-1930

Saturday, October 17, from 2-3:30 p.m.

Columbia University Law School,

The Irish Bridget

Jerome Greene Hall, Room 101,

435 West 116th Street in Manhattan.

The nearest subway stop is for the Number 1 train at 116th Street

and Broadway (Columbia University).

Dr. Margaret Lynch-Brennan will present a program on Irish women in domestic service in the Northeast during the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Despite the lack of attention by labor historians, domestic service was the chief waged occupation for women in nineteenth-century America, and in the second half of that century Irish immigrant women dominated this occupation in the urban Northeast. Bridget or Biddy was the stereotypical young Irish immigrant who worked in private homes between 1840 and 1930. Popular American literature from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century was rife with stories about the Irish Bridget and the havoc she allegedly wrought in middle-class American homes. But who were the actual human beings behind the stereotype? In this program, using unpublished correspondence and photographs of Irish domestics, Dr. Margaret Lynch-Brennan will discuss both the women and the reality behind the stereotype, focusing on their work life, their social life and the impact they had on Irish-American life. This presentation will be based on her new book entitled The Irish Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women in Domestic Service in America, 1840-1930, published by Syracuse University Press.

Margaret Lynch-Brennan began her career as a classroom teacher, and over time has taught at the middle school, high school, and graduate level. For many years she worked as an administrator for the New York State Education Department. She holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University at Albany (SUNY) and has presented at conferences in Australia, Germany, and Ireland, and across the United States.

A reception will follow.

There is no fee to attend, but a $3 donation is suggested for refreshments.

All are Welcome!

also,

Irish Immigrants & County Associations in

NYC, 1946-61

Saturday, December 5, at 2-3:30 p.m.

Mother Seton National Shrine (Our Lady of the Rosary Hall),

7 State Street (between Pearl & Whitehall Streets)

opposite Battery Park, Manhattan

Dr. Miriam Nyhan will discuss the unique presence and important roles of Irish county associations in New York City during the years following World War II. The discussion will be based on her extensive research using oral interviews and archival research, and on her analyses of these special associations, their yearly activities, and their enthusiastic participants.

The post World War II era saw a massive exodus of migrants from the island of Ireland. In fact, between 1946 and 1961 approximately 500,000 emigrated: the equivalent of approximately 17% of the population. In New York, county associations played an important role in the Irish communities that greeted the new migrants. These societies provided a means by which immigrants from particular counties could reunite, socialize, and provide contacts or assistance. For many newly arrived migrants, a county association meeting or event was the first port-of-call in the search for permanent housing, jobs, or a familiar accent. Each county, through these organizations, became a guardian to those it represented, and provided invaluable safety valves to the needs of its county-people. The annual calendar of the associations was structured around key events which punctuated the year, with St. Patrick’s Day representing the highlight. As a general rule, larger counties had larger and more vibrant associations – but demographics were not the only indicator of the association strength.

Dr. Miriam Nyhan will discuss the significance that county associations had for post-war immigrants from Ireland. Starting from a premise that we can only understand that wave of immigrants by looking at the Ireland people left and the New York they arrived in, she will clarify the many roles counties associations fulfilled. To widen the focus, experiences of Irish immigrants and county associations in post-war London will also be discussed.

Miriam Nyhan is Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow at Glucksman Ireland House, New York University. She received her M.Phil. from University College, Cork and her Ph.D. from the the European University Institute. Dr. Nyhan is the author of ‘Are You Still Below?’ The Ford Marina Plant, Cork 1917-1984. She has served as a historian for Henry Ford & Son Limited, (Ford Ireland) and is currently Glucksman Ireland House’s oral historian.

Reception to follow.

There is no fee to attend, but

A $3 donation for refreshments in suggested.

All are Welcome!

The Roundtable is now on Facebook!

Hello, Fans!

The New York Irish History Roundtable  is now on Facebook.

Please visit our Facebook page and give us a look!

Free Digital Access to The Irish Times, 1859-2009!

The Irish Times is celebrating their 150th year in circulation by allowing the public free access to the newspaper’s digital archives, going all the way back to March 29th, 1859!

This free access won’t last long, though–it expires on April 5th, 2009, so do your genealogical/historical searching NOW, folks!!!

The URL is:

http://www.irishtimes.com/150/
Happy Searching!

Jim Garrity

Second Annual Irish- and English-Language Mass a Rousing Success!

On March 14th, an Irish- and English-language Mass was held to

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

celebrate the Feast of St. Patrick at Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral, New York’s first Cathedral. This Mass, just like the first one, held in March 2008, was extremely well-received by the Irish-American community. The 2009 event brought even more people into the historically-significant edifice, as it was filled almost to capacity.

This event was co-sponsored by the New York Irish History Roundtable, Glucksman Ireland House at New York University, and by Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral.

Washington Square Harp & Shamrock Orchestra

As our guests filed into the church, piper Lisa Farber played the bagpipes. The readings were done in both Irish and English. Father Andrew O’Connor and Professor Padraig O Cearuill of Glucksman Ireland House-NYU handled the Irish readings. Irish-language vocalists Patrick Connolly and Dawn Doherty sang beautifully, and Jared Lamenzo played liturgical music on the church’s historic pipe organ, built by Henry Erben in 1868.

After the Mass, a party was held in front of the church, complete with traditional Irish music played by the Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra, refreshments, and camaraderie.

Father Andrew O’Connor of Holy Family Church in The Bronx, Monsignor Donald Sakano, pastor of Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral, and Father Gavin Reilly were concelebrants of the Mass.