New York Irish History Roundtable

06/08/2026

Members watch your email and regular mail for an exciting invitation to participate in a private tour of a limited exhibit called The Irish Literary Revival and the Making of a Nation at the Grolier Club in New York City on July 16.

The Grolier Club

05/14/2026

Our May 2 conversation with David Emmons about his new book, History's Erratics: Irish Catholic Dissidents and the Transformation of American Capitalism, 1870-1930, is now up on our YouTube Channel.
If you missed it or would like to view again, please go to:

Did the Irish Catholic immigrants who came to work in America in the 19th century bend to the demands of its capitalist industrial economy or did the immigra...

05/02/2026

Attention members:
You should have received your Zoom link for today's 4 p.m. session with Dave Emmons talking about his latest book:
History's Erratics: Irish Catholic Dissidents and the Transformation of American Capitalism: 1870-1930.
Join us!!

04/22/2026

This week marks the 110th anniversary of the Easter Rising at the GPO in Dublin.
We checked our archive and found this article by the granddaughter of John Kenny a prominent figure in the plans for the uprising in April of 1916.
Take a look:

In 1914 John Kenny was asked to undertake an arduous, dangerous mission for the Clan-na-Gael. A veteran of the doomed Fenian Rising of 1867, for nearly 50...

04/19/2026

Join us on May 2 at 4 pm when David Emmons talks to us about his new book:
History's Erratics: Irish Catholic Dissidents and the Transformation of American Capitalism 1870-1930.
Members will receive a Zoom invite the week before the event.
https://a.co/d/0hkEMGll

To become a member go to:
https://www.irishnyhistory.org/join-2/

History's Erratics: Irish Catholic Dissidents and the Transformation of American Capitalism, 1870-1930 (Working Class in American History)

03/31/2026

03/30/2026

Irish Women Protest in 1920 St. Patrick's Day Parade

Carrying a sign with the words of Dublin poet and Gaelic cultural revivalist William Rooney, the strongly Irish nationalist women of the Cumann na mBan proclaimed their militant spirit. Eamon DeValera, the exiled leader of the Irish cause, reviewed the march from the official reviewing stand on Fifth Avenue.

03/28/2026

Gaelic Park Irish Nationalism

In 1958, Gaelic Park in the Bronx was a popular gathering place for young Irish Immigrants. In this photo, two Irish women read the Irish Republcan weekly newspaper "The United Irishman" while a uniformed U.S. army soldier and the head of the Bronx Ancient Order of Hibernians Accordion Band hold the paper for all to read.

03/27/2026

Irish Women Protest at British Consulate, New York, 1920

A group of picketers from the Celtic Players, a group co-founded by Irish-born actress, singer and lecturer Eileen Curran, protested the treatment of Cork Mayor Terence Sweeney outside the British Consulate in New York in August 1920. Curran, who had won acclaim in 1919 in the David Belasco romantic comedy "Dark Rosaleen," later marched with other Irish women activists on the docks and quickly caused a massive unauthorized strike that tied up every British ship in port. Eileen Curran continued into the late 1940s in New York as a powerful advocate for Irish nationalist and Irish language causes.

03/26/2026

The Ladies' Hibernians and Irish Freedom

The colorful old charter for Ladies Auxiliary Division No. 3 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians has survived for decades after this division of the Bushwick section of Brooklyn vanished. Founded in 1912, the Bushwick neighborhood Ladies' Hibernians strongly committed themselves to advocating for Irish freedom. Like many Ladies' A.O.H. divisions across the country, Division No. 3 in 1916 organized a branch of the Friends of Irish Freedom , named after Irish patriotic poet Ethna Carberry. Mary L Girard became simultaneously not only the Hibernian President but the head of the Ethne Carberry F.O.I.F. The Bushwick neighborhood, however, was never known as an Irish stronghold, and both of these Irish societies gradually faded away and became defunct by World War II.

The officers were: President: Mrs. Ellen T. Feeney. Vice President: Mrs. A.T. Girard (her given name was Mary L.). Financial Secretary: Mrs. E. O'Keeffe. Treasurer: Miss Mary Fitzgerald. Mistress-at-Arms: Julia M. Riley. Recording Secretary: Miss Frances Sheils.