April 6, 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the entrance of the United States into World War I. Irish Americans were mixed about intervention in Europe’s war, some supporting the dictum "England's difficulty isIreland's opportunity," but nonetheless hundred of thousands of them enlisted to fight. Among the Irish who fought in America's military was Butte, Montana’s Peter … [Read more...] about Weekly Comment: Irish America and WWI: The Story of Peter Thompson
History
The Forgotten Irish Remembered at U.S. National Archives
Irish archeologist Damian Shiels, who specializes in what he calls “conflict archeology,” will launch his new book on the Irish immigrant experience during the Civil War at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. in March. Shiels’s book, The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America, uses the archives’ widow and dependent pension files of Irish Civil War soldiers … [Read more...] about The Forgotten Irish Remembered at U.S. National Archives
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 … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: Victoria
& the Battering Ram (Photos)
The Fabulous Murphys
Gerald Murphy and his wife, Sara, were the golden couple at the center of glamorous expatriate life in Paris and the Riviera in the 1920s, with a social circle that included many of the great artists and writers of the day. Michael Burke goes behind the scenes to look at the dynamic Murphy family’s early beginnings. Patrick: The Salesman Patrick Francis Murphy, one of 13 … [Read more...] about The Fabulous Murphys
“Sure Shot Mary”
New York City police officer and detective Mary Agnes Shanley (1896-1989) was the first policewoman to use a gun in an arrest. She made over 1,000 collars in her career and, at just 160 pounds, had the strength to subdue an adult male. Born in 1896, Mary Shanley and family left the poverty of Ireland for the mean streets of Manhattan. Growing up it seemed to her that it was … [Read more...] about “Sure Shot Mary”