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Irish American Heritage Museum

Irish Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women in Domestic Service

January 22, 2023 by Editorial Staff 3 Comments

the irish bridgetIrish 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Irish American Heritage Museum

MLK Jr. & The Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland

January 11, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1960Ties between political activists in black America and Ireland span several centuries, from the days of the days of the slave trade to the close links between Frederick Douglass and Daniel O’Connell. [Read more…] about MLK Jr. & The Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Irish American Heritage Museum

Global Memorials of The Great Hunger of Ireland

December 12, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Global Memorials of The Great HungerThroughout 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Irish American Heritage Museum

Epigenetics: Tracing the Legacy of Irish Great Hunger Trauma

December 4, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Tracing the Legacy of Great Hunger TraumaEpigenetics 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Irish American Heritage Museum

Ireland’s Great Famine Refugees in New York: New Understandings

October 16, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

 Ireland’s Great Famine Refugees in New York When the Irish were fleeing famine and suffering in Ireland for the United States, The Sun called them “the most miserable looking creatures that we have ever seen landed upon our shores.”

Historian Tyler Anbinder, PhD, argues that much of the extreme poverty focused on during the time and afterward includes a generous dose of myth. His work shows that Irish immigrants utilized networks to help them survive and ultimately thrive in their new unfamiliar homes. [Read more…] about Ireland’s Great Famine Refugees in New York: New Understandings

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History, New York City Tagged With: Irish American Heritage Museum

The Irish in the Gilded Age Albany

September 27, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Labor, Learning & PoliticsThe Gilded Age was a period of gross materialism and political corruption which began after the Civil War and lasted through the turn of the 20th century.

Many Irish Americans in Albany were still struggling to support themselves, working as laborers, maids, and often dealing with anti-Catholic resentment. However, there was a growing sense of solidarity and power within the group as many were lifted out of poverty and became involved in politics and civil service. [Read more…] about The Irish in the Gilded Age Albany

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Historic Cherry Hill, Irish American Heritage Museum

Government Relief and Private Charity during the Great Hunger

September 19, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Government Relief and Private Charity during the Great Hunger 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Irish American Heritage Museum

The Irish in the Mohawk and Hudson Valleys

September 6, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Irish in the Mohawk and Hudson ValleysThe exodus that institutionalized emigration from Ireland began just after the Napoleonic Wars and the famines of 1817 and 1822; surged during and after the 1845-51 Great Hunger and continued spasmodically through the remainder of the century.

By the mid-nineteenth century, many of the Irish newcomers were poor, as opposed to the earlier ones who had been wealthy professionals. Some came arrived in the Hudson and Mohawk Valley regions from the city of New York, more down from Canada, to work on the canals, railroads, and factories. [Read more…] about The Irish in the Mohawk and Hudson Valleys

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Fulton County Historical Society, Irish American Heritage Museum

The Great Hunger in a Typical Irish Town

September 5, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Bread or BloodWith 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Irish American Heritage Museum

Cornelius Heeney: Irish Immigrant, Philanthropist

June 21, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In Search of Cornelius HeeneyWhen 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Irish American Heritage Museum

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