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Best of the blog, 2024 | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
It's been a good year. My work included two public presentations, publication of my first entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography, and a trip to Ireland. I reviewed important archival collections at University College Dublin and the New York Public Library. I donated archival material to the University of Galway. The site surpassed its…
Remembering the Freeman’s Journal & Lartigue monorail | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Two Irish business enterprises that ceased operations a century ago remain lively in the nation's memory. The Listowel and Ballybunion Railway, a unique monorail, made its final journey in October 1924, ending 36 years of passenger and freight service in County Kerry. Two months later, the last issue of the Freeman's Journal, a 161-year-old national…
Irish electorate avoids major government shakeup | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
This post will be updated throughout the week. Email subscribers should check the website for the latest election developments. MH *** Voters in the Republic of Ireland have signaled a desire for stability instead of change. They have returned center-right Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael party candidates who will need a third partner--likely Labour or…
Some Irish books for holiday gift giving, or ‘yourshelf’ | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
A Christmas tree sprouted in the lobby of my Dublin hotel during a mid-November visit to the Irish capital. In the U.S., the arrival of the Thanksgiving signals the start of the year-end holidays. Since books are a great gift to give others--or ourselves--below I provide details of a dozen titles that have found their…
Pre-Irish & post-U.S. election letter from Dublin | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
DUBLIN--I arrived here days after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the U.S. presidential election and as Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris declared a general election date for later this month. The Irish Times headlines above prompted two quick thoughts: Irish campaigns are mercifully shorter than the U.S election calendar. Trump's win not not only thrusts…
Photo essay: Honoring Ireland’s Great War dead in Belgium | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
The sacrifice of Irish soldiers during the First World War, 1914-1918, was complicated by the unfolding separatist revolution at home. Over 200,000 Irishmen from the Catholic nationalist and Protestant unionist communities fought in the war. Upwards of 40,000 lost their lives, while tens of thousands more sustained physical and psychological injuries. Participation in the Great…
BULLETIN: Trump’s win could impact Irish election, economy | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Donald Trump's U.S. election win has introduced new uncertainty into Republic of Ireland elections, now set for Nov. 29. Irish officials fear that Trump's protectionist trade policies and corporate tax cuts could put U.S. foreign direct investment and Irish jobs at risk. That's on top of wider worries about the European economy, Russian aggression on…
Revisiting O’Brien’s ‘Irish Pioneers in American Journalism’ | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
On April 12, 1924, the Gaelic American newspaper of New York City published the first installment of a series titled “Irish Pioneers in American Journalism.” It was written by Michael J. O’Brien, a County Cork immigrant and historiographer at the American Irish Historical Society, also based in the city. "While the fact is generally recognized…
Ireland will hold general election; plus other news & data | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
After months of speculation, the three leaders of Ireland's coalition government have agreed there will be a general election before mid-December. Taoiseach Simon Harris will announce the date--most likely Nov. 29 or Dec. 6--within the coming days. (This story will be updated. Email subscribers should check the website for the latest developments.) Voters will select…
‘Special relationship’ or the fading of the green? | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
This month marks the 100th anniversary of official diplomatic relations between the United States and Ireland. In presenting his credentials to US President Calvin Coolidge, Irish professor Timothy A. Smiddy became not only the first minister plenipotentiary appointed by the Irish Free State, but also the first representative from any member of the British Commonwealth.…
Ireland’s ‘Bloody Sundays’ and The Pittsburgh Catholic, Part 2 | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
This two-part post explores how the weekly Pittsburgh Catholic newspaper reported—or ignored—two of the most violent episodes in twentieth century Irish history. Both events—in November 1920 in Dublin, and in January 1972 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland—came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” Pittsburgh, and the Catholic, had strong ties to Ireland through immigration. These two…
Ireland’s ‘Bloody Sundays’ and The Pittsburgh Catholic, Part 1 | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
This two-part post explores how the weekly Pittsburgh Catholic newspaper reported—or ignored—two of the most violent episodes in twentieth century Irish history. Both events—in November 1920 in Dublin, and in January 1972 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland—came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.”[n]Several violent episodes in history have been described as “Bloody Sunday,” including the March…
Our 1,000th post notes upcoming AJHA paper presentation | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
I will present my above titled paper at the American Journalism Historians Association's 43rd Annual Conference, Oct. 3-5, in Pittsburgh. The paper explores how the weekly Pittsburgh Catholic newspaper reported—or ignored—two of the most violent episodes in twentieth century Irish history. Both events—in November 1920 in Dublin, and in January 1972 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland—came…
Remembering Dorothea Lange’s ‘Irish Country People’ | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Seventy years ago this month American photographer Dorothea Lange arrived in County Clare and pointed her camera toward the locals. Six months later, at St. Patrick's Day, Life magazine advertised her work as "12 pages of beautiful and sensitive pictures" that put readers "face to face with the rural folk of Ireland."[n]From advertisement for the…
Ireland & Northern Ireland by the numbers | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Ireland's Central Statistic's Office (CSO) is marking its 75th anniversary. The agency grew from the Statistics Branch of the Department of Industry and Commerce, established at the founding of the Irish Free State in 1922. From that time until the CSO's 1949 formation the population of the 26 counties remained about 2.9 million, compared to…
Gaelic American’s coverage of Devoy’s 1924 homecoming | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
John Devoy, Fenian exile and Gaelic American newspaper editor, returned to Ireland in July 1924, his first trip home in 45 years. The 82-year-old revolutionary had been a relentless fighter for Irish independence since the middle of the nineteenth century. Devoy arrived two years after the creation of the 26-county Irish Free State. Personal and…
Letter describes ‘extraordinarily beautiful’ Achill Island in summer 1923 | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
(This post marks our 12th blogiversary. Thanks for your support. I'm away until September. MH) Chester A. Arthur III, grandson of the late 19th century U.S. president, and his wife, Charlotte, lived in Ireland for several years beginning in 1922.[n]The couple married in June 1922 in England, then honeymooned and settled in Ireland. The also…
On reading opposing newspapers in Ireland, 1922 & 1888 | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
During his spring 1922 reporting trip to Ireland, American journalist Frederick Palmer made a stop in the recently partitioned Northern Ireland. While traveling from Dublin to Belfast, he made this observation about Irish newspaper readers: When you find that one fellow passenger in a compartment on a railway train is reading the London Morning Post…
U.S. press on the rise and fall of the Paisley dynasty | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Ian Paisley Jr.’s defeat in the United Kingdom elections marks the first time in 54 years that the family will not represent Northern Ireland’s North Antrim constituency at Westminster. The Rev. Paisley Sr. entered Parliament in June 1970, then 15 months later founded the militant Democratic Unionist Party. Now, the DUP's loss of two other…
Northern Ireland votes Thursday in U.K. election | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
This post will be updated until the results are final. Email subscribers should check the website. MH Voters in Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom head to the polls Thursday, July 4. Many observers believe the election will boot the Conservatives from power after 14 years, five prime ministers, and one Brexit.…
Post-treaty Ireland’s brief, ‘sheer nationalist happiness’ | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Col. Frederick Palmer, a veteran American war correspondent, sailed into the Queenstown harbor on Feb. 2, 1922. His use of the town name that honored Victoria's 1849 visit drew a quick correction from "an Irishman on board my steamer," Palmer later reported. The passenger informed him the name was changed to Cobh with the establishment…
American Commission’s 1920 Irish independence reading list | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
The American Commission on Irish Independence emerged from the February 1919 Irish Race Convention in Philadelphia. Frank P. Walsh, a former Wilson administration labor lawyer, chaired the activist group's three-member delegation to the Paris peace conference later that spring to lobby for Ireland. Then, the trio made an outspoken and controversial stop in Ireland. By…
Irish local and E.U. election outcomes offer surprises | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
This post will be updated through June 16. MH UPDATE 1: " ... The modern Sinn Féin on the one hand drew on the same kind of ethnonationalist identity politics that now fuel the far right across Europe, the United States and elsewhere. Yet on the other, it thought of itself as a progressive socialist…
On recognition & partition: Ireland, Israel, & Palestine | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Ireland's decision to recognize Palestinian statehood has gravely disrupted diplomatic relations between Ireland and Israel. The latter condemned the gesture as "a reward for terrorism" perpetrated by Hamas in October and withdrew its ambassador from Dublin. On May 22, Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris said: "On the 21st of January 1919 Ireland asked the world to…
Dev’s last visit ‘home’ to USA; Ireland’s ‘cruel partition’ | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Irish President Éamon de Valera made a state visit to the United States in May 1964 that bookended U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s trip to Ireland 11 months earlier. Kennedy was 46 when he set foot on Irish soil for the fourth time, the first time as U.S. leader. He was assassinated five months later…
U.S. opinion on Ireland, 1919: the view from Rome | Mark Holan's Irish American Blog
Monsignor John Hagan became rector of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome during the Irish War of Independence. The County Wicklow native, who had been vice-rector of the Catholic seminary since 1904, succeeded Michael O'Riordan in late 1919. Both priests were staunch Irish nationalists. Hagan was in close contact with Irish separatists and used the…