Irish American Heritage Museum

Irish servant girls appeared in popular literature often stereotypically called “Bridget” or “Biddy.”  These names became so closely linked to domestic service in America that some Irish immigrants changed their name in an effort to escape the negative connotations.

The interactions between the Irish Bridgets and the middle-class Americans who hired them as domestic servants had a significant impact on Irish American life. The Irish Bridget was often the only Irish people with whom middle-class Americans had direct and ongoing contact. [Read more…] about Irish Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women in Domestic Service

Throughout much of the 20th Century, Ireland struggled with how to memorialize the tragedies of the Great Hunger in Ireland.

It wasn’t until June of 1998, that statues representing the duality of Irish immigration – the deprivation of famine left behind and the potential for prosperity of an American life, were unveiled in Boston, Massachusetts. The first American memorial for Ireland’s Great Hunger was only preceded by Dublin’s “Famine” sculptures, unveiled in 1997. [Read more…] about Global Memorials of The Great Hunger of Ireland

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that do not involve alterations to the genetic code or DNA, but whose effects may persist over several generations. Since 2013, Dr. Oonagh Walsh has been researching and reporting on the negative effects maternal starvation had on babies during and immediately after the Irish Great Hunger, resulting in possible epigenetic changes. [Read more…] about Epigenetics: Tracing the Legacy of Irish Great Hunger Trauma

The tragedy of the Great Hunger occurred at the heart of the vast, and resource-rich, British Empire. The imperial government, however, chose not to use its resources to come to the aid of the Irish poor. The degree to which the British government was responsible for this disaster is still debated among historians. [Read more…] about Government Relief and Private Charity during the Great Hunger

With hunger and unemployment reaching fever pitch in the winter of 1846, the peasants and laboring class in Listowel, Ireland and its vicinity had had enough, and attempted a riot – which was quickly quelled.

Conditions in the Workhouse in 1847 went from bad to worse, and by 1851 17,844 people had vanished from the area, either through death or emigration. The story is important not because it is exceptional, but because it represents the typical experience of many Irish towns at that time. [Read more…] about The Great Hunger in a Typical Irish Town

When he died in 1848 Cornelius Heeney, an Irish emigrant of the late 18th century to the USA, was among the wealthiest and most influential men in the country, yet his story goes far beyond wealth or influence.

Over the course of his life, Heeney contributed land and money to many churches and orphan asylums in New York and Brooklyn, including New York’s first Catholic Church, St Peters. [Read more…] about Cornelius Heeney: Irish Immigrant, Philanthropist