Irish in America

Green is the color as people across the United States celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Why is this day so widely acknowledged? Who were the Irish people who came and settled here and what did they do to warrant such a celebration? Join us as we sample first-person accounts, songs, photographs, maps, and other documents that tell the story of the Irish in America.

Overview of History of Irish in America

Immigration: Irish, Feature Presentation, Learning Page
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/irish.html

Two Waves of Immigration:

1. Colonial immigration

To all farmers and tradesmen, who want good settlements for themselves and families, especially those lately arrived, or that may yet come, from Scotland or Ireland [Recommending Central New York] Philadelphia: Printed by John Dunlap, at the Newest Printing-Office in Market-Street, 1772., An American Time Capsule, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbpebib:@field(NUMBER+@band(rbpe+14302600))

2. Second wave of immigration in response to the Great Potato Famine (1845-1849)

• Statistical atlas of the United States based on the results of the ninth census 1870, Cultural Landscapes, Map Collections, American Memory. (See plate 77 for Population (German, Irish),)
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(g3701gm+gct00008))+@field(COLLID+setlmap))
• Scribner's statistical atlas of the United States, 1880, Cultural Landscapes, Map Collections, American Memory.. (See plate 26: Population (German, Irish), 1883
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/gmd370m/g3701m/g3701gm/gct00009/ca000078.sid&style=gmd&itemLink=&title=Scribner's%2bstatistical%2batlas%2bof%2bthe%2bUnited%2bStates,%2b+-+Plate+26%3a+Population+(German,+Irish)
• "Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free", Today in History (January 1)
  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jan01.html
  Notes that "on January 1, 1892, a fifteen-year old Irish girl named Annie Moore became the first of the more than twelve million immigrants who would pass through the doors of the Ellis Island Immigration Station in its sixty-two years of operation."

The Irish Experience in America

Prints and Photographs Online Catalog - http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html
Search on “irish american” for examples of political cartoons, photographs, posters, and drawings illustrating various aspects of the Irish experience in the United States.

Living conditions:

1. Personal History of E.A. Jenkins of Lincoln, NE. 1939, American Life Histories, American Memory.
   http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa117071209))
2. Al Buonforte, Growing Up on State Street, Working in Patterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting, American Memory.
   http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcwip:@field(DOCID+@lit(rma00402))

Willingness to work for low wages:

Immigrant laborers in the early 20^th century, Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cmns:@field(DOCID+@lit(cmns001732))

Religious conflict

Examiner's questions for admittance to the American (or Know-Nothing) Party, July 1854.
(American Party Collection), Words and Deeds, American Memory.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mcc:@field(SUBJ+@band(+Irish+Americans+))

Attitudes against the Irish

A Yankee trader in the gold rush; the letters of Franklin A. Buck. Compiled by Katherine A. White, WEAVERVILLE, November 11, 1854, California As I Saw It, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/calbk:@field(DOCID+@lit(calbk067div73))

In War:

Union [Pictorial Envelope], Civil War Treasures from the New York Historical Society, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cwnyhs:@field(DOCID+@lit(aj90070))

Civil War – the 69^th Regiment

1. Posters from Civil War Treasures from the New York Historical Society, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/cwnyhs:@FIELD(SUBJ+@od1(+united+states++history++civil+war,+1861+1865++participation,+irish+))

2. 69th Reg't N.Y.S.M. Col. Mathew Murphy. This gallant corps will be ready in a few days to start for the seat of war! [Poster], Civil War Treasures from the New York Historical Society, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cwnyhs:@field(DOCID+@lit(ac03160))

3. 69th Reg't N.Y.S. Vol. [Pictorial envelope], Civil War Treasures from the New York Historical Society, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cwnyhs:@field(DOCID+@lit(aj62016))

4. [Harrison's Landing, Va. Group of the Irish Brigade]. Selected Civil War Photographs, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cwar:@field(NUMBER+@band(cwp+4a39548))

5. Return of Gen. Corcoran of the glorious 69th. Air: The glorious 69th. H. De Marsan, Publisher, 54 Chatham Street, N. Y. [n. d.], America Singing: Nineteenth Century Song Sheets, American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID+@lit(sb40538a))

World War I

1. Enlist to-day in the 69th infantry Join the famous Irish regiment [Poster], Prints and Photographs Online Catalog

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3g08316))+@field(COLLID+wwipos))

2. 69^th Infantry (New York), the 165^th infantry, “the old fighting 69^th of New York”, Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/sgprotobib:@field(DOCID+@lit(19190504))

Some Occupations:

1. Architect: From Today in History (October 13)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct13.html

2. Policemen:

• New York, New York. Irish-American policeman in Central Park on Sunday. America From the Great Depression to World War II, American Memory.
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8d22270))
• New York, New York. Irish-American policeman in Central Park on Sunday. America From the Great Depression to World War II, American Memory.
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@FILREQ(@FIELD(DOCID+@LIT(owi2001010421/PP))+@FIELD(COLLID+fsa))

3. Bartenders:

• New York, New York. Irish-American bartender serving beer to British sailors in a Third Avenue bar in the "Forties". America From the Great Depression to World War II, American Memory.
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8d21842))
• Irish in Bridgeport, American Life Histories, American Memory.
  http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa110010102))

4. Clothing manufacturer/retailer:
Advertisement for Barbour's Irish flax threads, manufactured in Paterson., Working in Patterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/afcwip:@field(DOCID+@lit(dtb00418))

5. Stonecutters:
Retired Irish Shed Owner, Montpelier, VT, American Life Histories, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa337110406))

6. Mining:
The Miners of Scranton. [Harper's new monthly magazine. / Volume 55, Issue 330, November 1877], The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncps:@field(DOCID+@lit(ABK4014-0055-133)) (page 917)

Culture

Song and Dance

1. The Wearing of the Green (song sheet), America Singing: Nineteenth Century Song Sheets, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID+@lit(as114600))

2. Irish Washerwoman (audio – fiddle playing Irish jig), California Gold, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cowellbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(afccc+a4221b3))

3. Irish Trot
Audio: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lomaxbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(l2625b3))
Text: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lomax:@field(DOCID+st0021)

4. Rafferty's party. Air: Tim Finegan's wake. H. De Marsan, Publisher. 60 Chatham Street, N. Y. [n. d.]
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID+@lit(sb40464a))

Theater

1. His last drink: a comedy Irish playlet, with a moral, American Variety Stage, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@field(NUMBER+@band(varsep+s38708))

2. Part 3: "Sons of the Ould Sod", Fights of the Nations, American Variety Stage, American Memory.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@field(NUMBER+@band(varsmp+2412s3))

Lore (fairies)

Mary Ann Meehan, American Life Histories, American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa114020509))

Further Resources

Celtic Roots: Stories, Songs, and Traditions From Across the Sea, Library of Congress LIVE!
http://www.loc.gov/loc/kidslc/celtic-roots.html

Immigrant Arrivals: A Guide to Published Sources, Local History and Genealogy Reading Room
http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/bib_guid/immigrant/intro.html

The Irish in America by John Francis Maguire, M.P., 1868, Nineteenth Century Books, American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncpm:@field(TITLE%2B@band(The%2BIrish%2Bin%2BAmerica.%2B))

Local legacies
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/legacies/IN/200003003.html

Saint Patrick’s Day, Today in History: March 17
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/mar17.html

“The Second Wave: European Immigration from 1850-1920”: Immigration Links for Your Research, Professional Development, Learning Page
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/educators/workshop/european/wimmlink.html#irish

Sources for Research in Irish Genealogy, Local History and Genealogy Reading Room
http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/bib_guid/ireland.html