Two words from one Irishman who trumpeted the world's superpower. “Manifest destiny...” These words, placed together, command one’s attention. They sound important, almost biblical. But they didn’t come from an Old Testament patriarch or New Testament prophet. Rather, they came from the pithy pen of a 19th-century Irishman named John O’Sullivan. His ancestors were from County … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: Manifest Destiny
Window on The Past
Window on the Past: A Savior of History
John Gilmary Shea preserved much of the existing knowledge of the beginnings of American Catholicism. Considering the Irish-American influence on U.S. Catholicism, it makes sense that someone of Irish descent – John Gilmary Shea – undertook to preserve much of the existing knowledge of the beginnings of American Catholicism. A prolific writer and dogged rescuer of rare … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: A Savior of History
Window on the Past:
Wall Street’s Forgotten Financial News Genius
By Paul M. McCarthy
October 6, 2017
October 6, 2017
Etched against the burgeoning lower Manhattan skyline, a lone figure rowed his tiny skiff toward the white-capped inner port. This was no fitness buff; his dark suit and bowler hat rose and dipped rhythmically from one ship to another, visits to each brief and businesslike.
The year was 1868. The solitary oarsman was John J. Kiernan, an innovative pioneer in the field of … [Read more...] about Window on the Past:
Wall Street’s Forgotten Financial News Genius
Window on the Past:
The Georgia Healys
In antebellum Georgia, the Healy children, born legal slaves to an Irish immigrant father and his black common-law wife, had to be smuggled out of the state to avoid being sold into slavery. Several would go on to become some of the first mixed-race high-ranking members of the Catholic Church.Nineteenth century Georgia saw a remarkable phenomenon called the Healy family. The … [Read more...] about Window on the Past:
The Georgia Healys
Window on the Past: Victoria
& the Battering Ram (Photos)
Sean Sexton’s photographic archive, considered the finest privately-held collection of Irish photographs in the world, provide a poignant photo-history of evictions in the final decades of the 19th century. These images created a wave of sympathy for Irish tenants and embarrassed the British government into making legislative changes. In 1900, Queen Victoria visited Ireland for … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: Victoria
& the Battering Ram (Photos)