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Recent Roundtable Events
New York Irish & the Fight for Free Speech
A Lecture by Christopher Finan
Saturday, May 3, 2008, at 2:00 p.m.
The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society
122 East 58th Street, Manhattan
Irish
Americans have played prominent roles in the fight for free speech in
the United States, and many of the most important and controversial
battles for free speech in the United States were fought in New York
City.
For example, Irish nationalist Jeremiah O’Leary, a New York attorney and ardent supporter of Irish nationalism, was one of the Americans prosecuted for criticizing United States’ participation in World War I. O’Leary was publicly excoriated by President Woodrow Wilson for his pro-Irish and anti-War statements. O’Leary’s pro-Irish publication, the Bull, was suppressed by Postmaster General Burelson, and O’Leary himself was arrested and indicted for his characterizations of the military draft as part of an effort supporting the British colonial empire. Similarly, Margaret Higgins Sanger, the daughter of an Irish immigrant stonecutter and a New Yorker, was prosecuted by special agent Anthony Comstock, acting on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service, for mailing copies of her avant-garde women’s rights magazine, The Woman Rebel. Another Irish New Yorker, Governor Alfred E. Smith, helped bring an end to the Red Scare that followed the war and vetoed legislation that would have restricted the rights of Socialists and other critics of the status quo. And State Senator James J. Walker, later Mayor of New York City, led the forces that defeated a book censorship bill. “No woman was ever ruined by a book,” Jimmy Walker said during the debate. (Of course, some of the most vigorous Irish American defenders of American free speech were Irish and were appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court – Frank Murphy, William Brennan and Anthony Kennedy – but they lacked the good fortune of a New York background.)
Christopher Finan is a longtime supporter of the Roundtable and president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. He is currently chair of the National Coalition against Censorship and a trustee of the Freedom to Read Foundation. He is the author of Alfred Smith: The Happy Warrior, and lives in Brooklyn.
For example, Irish nationalist Jeremiah O’Leary, a New York attorney and ardent supporter of Irish nationalism, was one of the Americans prosecuted for criticizing United States’ participation in World War I. O’Leary was publicly excoriated by President Woodrow Wilson for his pro-Irish and anti-War statements. O’Leary’s pro-Irish publication, the Bull, was suppressed by Postmaster General Burelson, and O’Leary himself was arrested and indicted for his characterizations of the military draft as part of an effort supporting the British colonial empire. Similarly, Margaret Higgins Sanger, the daughter of an Irish immigrant stonecutter and a New Yorker, was prosecuted by special agent Anthony Comstock, acting on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service, for mailing copies of her avant-garde women’s rights magazine, The Woman Rebel. Another Irish New Yorker, Governor Alfred E. Smith, helped bring an end to the Red Scare that followed the war and vetoed legislation that would have restricted the rights of Socialists and other critics of the status quo. And State Senator James J. Walker, later Mayor of New York City, led the forces that defeated a book censorship bill. “No woman was ever ruined by a book,” Jimmy Walker said during the debate. (Of course, some of the most vigorous Irish American defenders of American free speech were Irish and were appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court – Frank Murphy, William Brennan and Anthony Kennedy – but they lacked the good fortune of a New York background.)
Too
little attention has been paid to the Irish American contribution to
the fight for free speech, an issue in which the New York Irish can
take pride in the achievements of their forebears. This unique program
will focus on these achievements.
Christopher Finan is a longtime supporter of the Roundtable and president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. He is currently chair of the National Coalition against Censorship and a trustee of the Freedom to Read Foundation. He is the author of Alfred Smith: The Happy Warrior, and lives in Brooklyn.
"43 Years and Still Looking"
The Online Revolution in Genealogical and Historical Research
A Lecture by Tom Kemp
Saturday, April 5, 2008, at 1 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
National Archives and Records Administration,
201 Varick Street, 12th Floor, Manhattan
Tom
Kemp has been tracing his family history for the past 43 years. When he
started, he only knew that William Kemp and Frances Stark were born in "Ireland."
Thomas Jay Kemp is the Director of Genealogy Products at NewsBank, the parent company of GenealogyBank.com. He has been a librarian for over 40 years and previously served as the director of two major genealogy libraries in New England.
Now
he has tracked down thousands of Kemp and Stark cousins who migrated
from County Cavan and County Limerick to countries all over the world.
Tom will share his research tips and discuss some online tools like the
Family History Library's New FamilySearch (which is currently
undergoing internal testing) and GenealogyBank. (www.GenealogyBank.com)
Come see how the online revolution is again transforming how we research our family history. Tom will also announce a special offer for Roundtable members and our friends.
Come see how the online revolution is again transforming how we research our family history. Tom will also announce a special offer for Roundtable members and our friends.
Thomas Jay Kemp is the Director of Genealogy Products at NewsBank, the parent company of GenealogyBank.com. He has been a librarian for over 40 years and previously served as the director of two major genealogy libraries in New England.
"That Musical McNulty Family"
A Lecture by Ted McGraw
Saturday, October 20, 2007, at 2 p.m.
Glucksman Ireland House,
One Washington Mews, Greenwich Village
(on Fifth Avenue between 8th Street and Washington Square Park)
Glucksman Ireland House,
One Washington Mews, Greenwich Village
(on Fifth Avenue between 8th Street and Washington Square Park)
Rochester resident Ted McGraw will give a illustrated
lecture on "That Musical McNulty Family," the famous New York Irish
family that was a cornerstone of Irish entertainment in the city from
the 1920s to the 1950s.
McGraw has spent many years researching the McNultys,
whose senior
members were born in Counties Roscommon and Leitrim, and has collected
a vast number of their recordings, most of which originally appeared on
78 rpm records. He recently gave his presentation in Ireland before the
Roscommon Historical Society to rave reviews by local history buffs.
The October 20th lecture to the Irish History Roundtable will be the
debut of McGraw's lecture in New York City and will commence at 2 p.m.
The McNultys combined traditional Irish music with
elements of
vaudeville topped off with their own inimitable style of wit and
whimsey. Widowed early in her life, "Ma" McNulty carried on with her
two young children, Peter and Eileen, who were immersed in
New York's
then vibrant Irish musical scene at an early age. While "Ma"
played the
button accordion, the kids danced and sang, but every show included a
few step dances by "Ma" as well.
Their entertainment was packaged into shows like the
"Irish Showboat"
which toured the Irish neighborhoods in the city and included a variety
of other Irish acts. Many Irish New Yorkers will remember their
appearances at the New York Irish dance halls or at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music, although most people will recall their nightly
appearances in Rockaway Beach night spots in the summertime.
City Hall Area Walking Tour
A tour of
historic sites
within walking distance of City Hall on Saturday, December 1, presented
by the
Roundtable, will be led principally by John Ridge, our Vice President
for Local
History. Occasional contributions will be offered by Charles Laverty,
President.
Among the places to be
visited are 165 William Street, where John Devoy published the weekly Gaelic American
from 1903 until his
death in 1928 and where he led the nationwide Irish Republican
Brotherhood/Clan
na Gael conspiracy and funding that culminated in the Easter Rising in
Dublin,
1916. Directly across the street at 164 William Street is the William
H.
Sadlier, Inc. publishing house, famous for its early novels, general
books, and
textbooks for Catholic readers. The firm is still in business after 170
years.
It became known in its early years for bestsellers by the immigrant
from Cavan,
Mary Anne Madden Sadlier, who produced a phenomenal sixty titles
addressing
issues of domestic servants, immigration, famine, historical romances,
Western
pioneers, and grammar-school catechisms.
Other
historic places
to be visited are St. Peter’s at Church and Barclay streets, New York’s
oldest
Catholic church, and the nearby St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel on Vesey
Street and
Broadway. Here we’ll view the Gaelic inscription on the William J.
MacNeven
monument executed by a member of the Gaelic-speaking Draddy family of
sculptors
from Kerry.
Also
here on Broadway was
Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa’s first New York business, a travel agency on
Broadway
at Murray Street. On Chambers Street, on the same block as the Emigrant
Savings
Bank, was the Draft Office commanded briefly by County Down-born
Colonel Robert
Nugent of the Irish Brigade before the outbreak of the 1863 Draft
Riots. Nugent’s
home was pillaged and burned by the mob during the riots.
Also on
Chambers Street was
the office of the Irish-language weekly newspaper The Gael
and the office of the lawyer-historian Michael Doheny from
Tipperary, an escapee from the failed
1848 rising. By 1851, Doheny would
organize a New York militia unit, the 69th Infantry, and later, on
St. Patrick’s Day, 1858, the Fenian Brotherhood at his office just
north of
Foley Square at 6 Centre Street.
Assisted Emigration and
the Story of Brigid Egan
A Lecture by Clare Curtin
Saturday, March 24, 2007, at 2 p.m.
Glucksman Ireland House,
One Washington Mews, Greenwich Village
(on Fifth Avenue between 8th Street and Washington Square Park)
Clare
Curtin will present an illustrated lecture that examines the finer
details of an emigration process not widely known to the general public.
The British ship Scythia arrived in New York Harbor on May 18, 1888, carrying over 1,000 passengers who disembarked on the docks of lower Manhattan. Among them were 100 teenage girls and young women who were listed alphabetically at the end of the ship’s manifest.
Among those passengers was seventeen year-old Brigid Egan, the future grandmother of Clare Curtin, a long-time member of the Roundtable. The girls were part of some prearranged assisted-emigration scheme but the exact origins were unknown....Who were the sponsors and what were their motives?
The British ship Scythia arrived in New York Harbor on May 18, 1888, carrying over 1,000 passengers who disembarked on the docks of lower Manhattan. Among them were 100 teenage girls and young women who were listed alphabetically at the end of the ship’s manifest.
Among those passengers was seventeen year-old Brigid Egan, the future grandmother of Clare Curtin, a long-time member of the Roundtable. The girls were part of some prearranged assisted-emigration scheme but the exact origins were unknown....Who were the sponsors and what were their motives?
Seeking
answers to these
questions led our presenter on a quest spanning ten years. Family
history was explored, historians interviewed, and archives researched
in New York, County Clare, Dublin and Belfast.
While
telling us more
about assisted emigration in the context of the historical period,
Clare Curtin will follow the path of teenager Brigid Egan, through
photographs and documentation, beginning at her tenant farmhouse in
Cahermurphy, Kilmihil, County Clare and ending with her ownership of a
brownstone residence in Greenwich Village -- just a short walk from
Ireland House.
69th Regiment Armory Tour
Conducted by NYIHR President Charles Laverty
Saturday, April 28, 2007, from 2-4 PM, at 26th Street and Lexington Avenue.
Use the 28th Street exit on the IRT Lexington Avenue Local (#6).
As
a first-time visitor enters the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington
Avenue, the challenge leaps out: Whether to scan the history of
the
regiment, its troops and its impressive array of historic flags, or or
to examine the building itself which for a century has made New
York
and American history in its own right. Roundtable members are invited
to
sort out this quandary for themselves on Saturday, April 28, 2-4 PM, in
the vastness of the armory at 26th Street and Lexington Ave -- Use the
28th Street exit on the IRT Lexington Avenue Local (#6).
Generally unknown to the public is the "three 69th regiments" of the civil war period. That, and other mysteries of the military-political scene will be explained on the tour. Moreover, in World War I the 69th was strangely designated the 165th New York as part of the larger "all-American" 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division, consisting of other regiments, from Alabama, Iowa and elsewhere. By sheer coincidence, the Alabama regiment had fought the 69th in Virginia during the civil war. The division prepared for movement to France at Camp Mills, Garden City, Long Island in the Fall of 1917. After a flurry of personal fisticuffs between some men of the New York regiment and the Alabamians ("just for old-times sake"?) the division shipped out of New York Harbor to its first foreign war. "Over there," the men of "Garryowen and Glory" fame were to return by marching through the arch at Washington Square and up Fifth Avenue to a spectacular welcome home bearing three Medals of Honor -- still on display, with others, at the armory. But the price of victory was staggering: The 69th alone suffered 758 killed in action in a span of only nine months of combat. One of the notable heroes was Sergeant Joyce Kilmer. But another who survived to march through the Washington Arch was Chaplain Francis Duffy wearing his Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor.
James
Kelly: Sculptor
of AmericaGenerally unknown to the public is the "three 69th regiments" of the civil war period. That, and other mysteries of the military-political scene will be explained on the tour. Moreover, in World War I the 69th was strangely designated the 165th New York as part of the larger "all-American" 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division, consisting of other regiments, from Alabama, Iowa and elsewhere. By sheer coincidence, the Alabama regiment had fought the 69th in Virginia during the civil war. The division prepared for movement to France at Camp Mills, Garden City, Long Island in the Fall of 1917. After a flurry of personal fisticuffs between some men of the New York regiment and the Alabamians ("just for old-times sake"?) the division shipped out of New York Harbor to its first foreign war. "Over there," the men of "Garryowen and Glory" fame were to return by marching through the arch at Washington Square and up Fifth Avenue to a spectacular welcome home bearing three Medals of Honor -- still on display, with others, at the armory. But the price of victory was staggering: The 69th alone suffered 758 killed in action in a span of only nine months of combat. One of the notable heroes was Sergeant Joyce Kilmer. But another who survived to march through the Washington Arch was Chaplain Francis Duffy wearing his Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor.
A Lecture by William B. Styple
Saturday, December 2, 2006, at 2 p.m.
Fordham Law School Auditorium,
140 West 62nd Street, Manhattan
New York born James Edward Kelly (1855-1933) met great Americans during his life! He interviewed them, recorded their experiences, and – through his graphic skill – preserved their images. Kelly was the son of Patrick Kelly and Leitrim-born Julia Golden. A diligent man who was a daily communicant at St. Paul the Apostle on West 57 Street (and who sought priestly blessings for his work) he became an accomplished artist by his mid-twenties.
New York Public Library Computer Lab
by
Ruth Carr, Chief of the Division of United States
History, Local History and Genealogy
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, Manhattan
A hands-on
demonstration of genealogical and historical databases accessible in
New York Public Library's Division of United States History, Local
History and Genealogy will be given to the first twenty-five Roundtable
members to sign up. Some of these databases are available only within
NYPL’s four research libraries or solely in the Humanities and Social
Sciences Library
at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
Tour of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral
Saturday, May 6, 2006, 1:00 p.m.
263 Mulberry Street, Manhattan
The Roundtable's free tour of historic St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on Mott Street will be held exclusively for Roundtable members and their guests.
St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, opened in 1815, was the first Catholic cathedral and second Catholic church in the City of New York. During the tour, we will visit the rectory, Records Room, churchyard burial ground, underground mortuary vaults, museum, and the cathedral's 1868 Henry Erben pipe organ.
The New York City Landmarks Commission declared St. Patrick's Old Cathedral a landmark in 1966.
A Fresh Look at the Civil War Draft Riots
Presented by Barnet Schecter and Kevin Baker
Saturday, April 1, 2006, 2:00 p.m.
Fordham Law School Auditorium,
140 West 62nd Street, Manhattan
Barnet
Schecter and Kevin Baker, noted New York historians and authors, will
discuss fresh ideas about the Irish in New York City that emerged
from Mr. Schecter's research for his latest book, The Devil's Own
Work: The Civil War
Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America,
published in January of this year. The talk will focus on the struggle
of Irish immigrants and Irish Americans against prejudice and poverty -
and their sacrifices on the battlefield for the Union - as important
contexts for the draft riots of 1863.
This event is open to the
public.Tea and coffee reception to follow discussion. The suggested donation is $3.00.
Coming to New York, Part II
A Panel
Discussion with Irish Immigrants
in
Glucksman Ireland House,
One Washington Mews, Greenwich Village
The
Roundtable will host its second panel discussion featuring 20th-century
Irish immigrants to New York City. The panelists include: Aine Grealy, Bill McGimpsey, Hugh O'Lunney, Eileen Reilly, and Mike Ward. Discussion will be moderated
by Linda
Dowling Almeida, adjunct professor at New York University and long time
Roundtable member.
The story of the Irish experience in New York lies with the people who live that experience. As part of our effort to capture the history of the Irish and share it with our members, we will sit down with five immigrants who arrived from Ireland in the 20th century and built their adult lives in New York.
Mayo-born Aine Grealy came to the USA in 1965 and has worked in a variety of social service, political, and educational capacities, including advising the young immigrants of the 1980s and 1990s.
Bill McGimpsey is a civil engineer from Northern Ireland who migrated first to Canada in 1965 and then on to the United States in 1968.
Hugh O'Lunney of Cavan is probably best known to New Yorkers as the proprietor of the successful O'Lunney restaurants. After several decades as host to the famous and not-so-famous, he can reflect on a life that has brought him into contact with personalities as diverse as Crystal Gale and Bernadette Devlin McAliskey.
Eileen Reilly, Associate Director of Glucksman Ireland House, an adjunct professor in the Irish Studies program at NYU, was born in Philadelphia to Cavan immigrants. In 1974, at age five, she returned with her parents to a farm in County Longford and migrated back to the U.S. in 1996.
Mike Ward of County Leitrim works in the building services industry and is an accomplished accordion player who has lent his musical talents to a variety of benefits, including fundraisers for charities in Northern Ireland.
With a panel of such different perspectives, the afternoon promises to be enlightening and the discussion lively. Please join us.
The story of the Irish experience in New York lies with the people who live that experience. As part of our effort to capture the history of the Irish and share it with our members, we will sit down with five immigrants who arrived from Ireland in the 20th century and built their adult lives in New York.
Mayo-born Aine Grealy came to the USA in 1965 and has worked in a variety of social service, political, and educational capacities, including advising the young immigrants of the 1980s and 1990s.
Bill McGimpsey is a civil engineer from Northern Ireland who migrated first to Canada in 1965 and then on to the United States in 1968.
Hugh O'Lunney of Cavan is probably best known to New Yorkers as the proprietor of the successful O'Lunney restaurants. After several decades as host to the famous and not-so-famous, he can reflect on a life that has brought him into contact with personalities as diverse as Crystal Gale and Bernadette Devlin McAliskey.
Eileen Reilly, Associate Director of Glucksman Ireland House, an adjunct professor in the Irish Studies program at NYU, was born in Philadelphia to Cavan immigrants. In 1974, at age five, she returned with her parents to a farm in County Longford and migrated back to the U.S. in 1996.
Mike Ward of County Leitrim works in the building services industry and is an accomplished accordion player who has lent his musical talents to a variety of benefits, including fundraisers for charities in Northern Ireland.
With a panel of such different perspectives, the afternoon promises to be enlightening and the discussion lively. Please join us.
Tea and coffee reception to follow discussion. Suggested donation is $3.00.
The Trials of the Brooklyn Five (IRA)
and
Major Jeremiah O'Leary
Presented by Frank Durkan
Saturday, October 8, 2005, 2 p.m.
Fordham Law School Auditorium,
140 West 62nd Street, Manhattan
During
the 1982 trial of five
supporters of the IRA, including George
Harrison and Michael Flannery, the defense showed the direct
involvement
of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in funneling weapons to the IRA
support network in the New York area. The jury in Brooklyn Federal
Court
acquitted the men on all charges. The other three defendants were
Thomas Falvey, Patrick Mullin, and Daniel Gormley.
Over 60 years earlier, Major Jeremiah O'Leary of the 69th NY Infantry (National Guard) had been conducting a widely-publicized and national campaign against American entry into World War I, claiming that our foreign interests did not lie in taking sides in any European war. The 69th, as part of the 42nd Infantry Division (both are serving again overseas, this time in Iraq), lost 900 men killed in action, including the poet Sergeant Joyce Kilmer. Under intense pressure and believing he couldn't get a fair trial in the face of prevailing pro-war sentiments, O'Leary, an attorney, fled New York and later was arrested in the Pacific Northwest. In the federal court on Foley Square, he was acquitted by the jury which heard perjured evidence and unsubstantiated statements by the federal prosecutor. In New York it didn't help the prosecutor's case when it was acknowledged that while numbers of O'Leary's New York ancestors had served honorably in the Union Army during the Civil War (where the 69th won many laurels for its gallantry) and O'Leary himself had been a member of the 69th until the outbreak of the war in Europe, several ancestors of the prosecutor had fought against the U.S. by serving in the the Confederate Army.
Over 60 years earlier, Major Jeremiah O'Leary of the 69th NY Infantry (National Guard) had been conducting a widely-publicized and national campaign against American entry into World War I, claiming that our foreign interests did not lie in taking sides in any European war. The 69th, as part of the 42nd Infantry Division (both are serving again overseas, this time in Iraq), lost 900 men killed in action, including the poet Sergeant Joyce Kilmer. Under intense pressure and believing he couldn't get a fair trial in the face of prevailing pro-war sentiments, O'Leary, an attorney, fled New York and later was arrested in the Pacific Northwest. In the federal court on Foley Square, he was acquitted by the jury which heard perjured evidence and unsubstantiated statements by the federal prosecutor. In New York it didn't help the prosecutor's case when it was acknowledged that while numbers of O'Leary's New York ancestors had served honorably in the Union Army during the Civil War (where the 69th won many laurels for its gallantry) and O'Leary himself had been a member of the 69th until the outbreak of the war in Europe, several ancestors of the prosecutor had fought against the U.S. by serving in the the Confederate Army.
Tea and coffee reception to follow discussion. A donation of $3.00 is requested from attendees.
All are welcome!
New York Irish
History Roundtable
2005 Genealogy
Workshop
National Archives and Records Administration,
201 Varick Street, 12th Floor, Manhattan
The New York
Irish History
Roundtable will present the eighth in its series of all-day genealogy
workshops. This year’s
workshop will be held on Saturday, May 7th, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.,
at the National Archives and Records
Administration
in Manhattan. The workshop is open to NYIHR members and everyone else
interested in learning how to research their Irish ancestors.
-
“Getting
Started in Irish
Research.” The focus will be on those records and resources crucial to
New York
City research and where to find them. Techniques and terminology will
spotlight
the Irish in New York City. Speaker: Trish Little Taylor, professional
librarian and genealogist with
extensive experience in Irish-American research in both the USA and
Ireland.
-
“Onsite
and Online Resources
of the National Archives.” NARA’s experienced, knowledgeable staff will
provide
strategies and tips for using federal records, including paper,
microfilm, and
online resources. NARA’s public programs and projects will also be
described. Speaker: John Celardo, archivist at NARA.
- “Online Research.”
Genealogists are presented with many avenues for spending their time
and money
on online research. This lecture will highlight ways to spend your time
wisely
and with an eye on cost. Speaker: Thomas J. Kemp, Director of the
Godfrey Memorial Library in
Middletown,
Connecticut.
- “Using Irish
Records.” What
has been done to make researching Irish records easier and more
affordable?
What are the main repositories and what types of records do they hold?
What are
the Irish Heritage Centres? Speaker: Trish Little Taylor.
BUILDING NEW YORK'S SUBWAY:
HARDLY 'THE WEST CLARE RAILWAY'
A Lecture Presented by Dr. Brian J. Cudahy
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Irish Farmers in Brooklyn
A Lecture Presented by Joseph McCarthy
Saturday, November 6, 2004
Tour of Saint Paul's Chapel, Trinity Church,
and John Street Methodist Church
By Charles Laverty
Saturday, October 9,
2004
