History, Natural History & the Arts
On July 26, 1788, the Convention of the State of New York, meeting in Poughkeepsie, ratified the Constitution of the United States and, in doing so, was admitted to the new union as the eleventh of the original thirteen colonies joining together as the United States of America.
For New Yorkers, it had been an eventful year. [Read more…] about The African Burial Ground, Columbia University & Manhattan’s Grave-Robbers
Beyond 2022 is working to recreate, digitally, Ireland‘s lost national treasure. This all-island and international research program combines historical research, archival discovery and technical innovation to track down copies and transcripts of original records lost in 1922.
Reuniting collections scattered around the globe, the aim of Beyond 2022 is to launch the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland — an open-access, virtual reconstruction of the Record Treasury destroyed at the Public Record Office of Ireland in the Four Courts Fire of 1922.
[Read more…] about Ireland’s Public Record Office Virtual Reconstruction Primer
Patrick and Bridget Kennedy arrived in the United States following the Great Famine — penniless and hungry. Less than a decade after their marriage in Boston, Patrick’s sudden death left Bridget to raise their children single-handedly.
Her rise from housemaid to shop owner in the face of rampant poverty and discrimination kept her family intact, allowing her only son P. J. to become the first American Kennedy elected to public office — the first of many. [Read more…] about The First Kennedys: Roots of an American Dynasty
The Friends of the Albany Rural Cemetery will hold a ceremony on Saturday, August 21st to dedicate a military marker for Irish immigrant Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Terrence Begley.
Begley was born in Ireland and raised in Albany. He enlisted as a private in the 7th NY Heavy Artillery regiment, an Albany regiment, on February 11th, 1864.
[Read more…] about Irish Immigrant, Medal of Honor Winner Terrence Begley Being Honored in Albany
On November 11th, 1919, the first anniversary was celebrated of the Armistice that ended the First World War. For the occasion, a grand ball was held at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Top of the bill was the hugely popular Southern Syncopated Orchestra, one of the first jazz bands to visit Britain, Scotland, and Ireland. [Read more…] about Anxiety Over Jazz In Ireland Followed A Tragic Shipwreck
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
In 1844 America was in a state of deep unrest, grappling with xenophobia, racial, and ethnic tension on a national scale that feels singular to our time, but echoes the earliest anti-immigrant sentiments of the country.
In that year Philadelphia was set aflame by a group of Protestant ideologues — avowed nativists — who were seeking social and political power rallied by charisma and fear of the Irish immigrant menace. [Read more…] about Fires of Philadelphia: A New Book On The 1844 Nativist Riots
Martin Van Buren’s relationship with the Irish community in New York was rather incidental, developing in parallel to the rise of his career.
The root of what became a favorable association between the two seems to be an inadvertent outcome grounded in political events that shook Ireland and America beginning in 1798 and continued throughout Van Buren’s career/life. [Read more…] about Martin Van Buren and New York’s Irish Community
The Irish American Heritage Museum has announced “Irish Involvement in American Labor,” a program with Terry Golway, PhD, set for Friday, May 7th. [Read more…] about Irish Involvement in American Labor (Virtual Talk)
This season of A New York Minute in History features a brand new format. Each episode will delve into a chapter of New York’s history through a topic introduced by one of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation’s historic markers, which collectively tell the story of the state’s unique and important history.
In this first episode of the new series, Devin Lander and Lauren Roberts investigate the invasions of Canada by the Fenian Brotherhood, a group of Irish Nationalists intent of freeing Ireland from British control. These invasions were launched from several locations in upstate New York. [Read more…] about The Irish Invasions of Canada (Podcast)
Ever after known as the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection aimed at establishing independent Irish rule took place during Easter Week, April 24-29, 1916. Led by the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, members of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army (mistakenly referred to in the US press as “Sinn Feiners”), the rebels occupied numerous locations in Dublin and proclaimed the establishment of the Irish Republic. British soldiers soon massed to quell the rebellion and by the end of the week, over 400 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured, the majority civilians.
Irish American involvement in the Rising was critical – in fact, without John Devoy’s influence, the Rising might never have happened. [Read more…] about 1916 Rising: The Irish Revolution in America