History Lecturer Seeking Irish Emigrants' Letters

Press, Volume C, Issue 29514, 16 May 1961, Page 23

History Lecturer Seeking Irish Emigrants' Letters

Letters from Irish emigrants are being collected by a lecturer in economic history at the University of Manchester Mr E. R. R. Green. In a letter to the editor of “The Press.” Mr Green asks if any readers could assist him in his search for material for a volume of Irish emigrant letters. “I know from experience that such letters were treasured by the folk at home in Ireland,” says Mr Green “Some found their way to the National Library of Ireland in Dublin and to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, in Belfast, but they can only be a small proportion of those that still remain in private hands. I must, therefore, rely on the co-operation of interested individuals.” Mr Green says that occasionally such letters have been carried to the United States and to Commonwealth countries by persons who emigrated from Ireland after receiving them Emigrants might also be able to refer him to persons in Ireland in possession of such letters “While I am interested in letters of any date, I should like to emphasise that I am particularly anxious to re-

ceive letters written in recent years. I mention this point as I know that people often assume that documents must be something like a century old to be of any historical value. This is not so, as the events of yesterday are already part of history,’’’ says Mr Green. Under no circumstances will letters or extracts from letters be published without permission, Mr Green says. Family or other private matters can easily be omitted by agreement. Mr Green says that he will be pleased to hear from anyone who has letters of this kind or who knows where they may be found. He suggests that if the holder of the letters does not wish to trust the original documents by post some arrangements may be made to have them copied at some local archive. Documents may be sent to Mr E. R. R. Green, department of history. University of Manchester. England.