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Martha Foley (1897-1977) of Boston, America's Foremost Editor of Short Stories in the 20th Century

Illustration of Martha Foley, Courtesy of New York Times  Boston-born editor, writer and adventurer Martha Foley (1897-1977) led an eventful and exciting literary  life. The daughter of physician Dr. Walter James Foley and Margaret Mary McCarthy of Ohio, whose parents were Irish immigrants, she and her brother Walter were raised in Dorchester.  Martha attended Girls Latin School in the South End and Boston University.  Martha Foley is on the far right, wearing glasses.  Photo courtesy of Historic New England As a teenager and young woman, Martha was an ardent suffragist and was arrested on Boston Common in 1919 for protesting with a group of women during President Woodrow Wilson’s visit to Boston.  She married fellow writer Whit Barnet and they embarked on adventure, travel and writing, living in Greenwich Village, Vienna and Paris. She worked as a city copy desk for newspapers in New York and Los Angeles, one of the first women to hold that position. She managed the book review pag
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John Barry, Naval Hero of the American Revolution, was born on March 25, 1745 in Wexford, Ireland

John Barry, a naval hero in the American Revolution, was born on March 25, 1745 in Ballysampson in Tacumshane Parish, County Wexford. His parents were James Patrick john Barry and Mary Ellen Cullen. According to historian Martin I. J. Griffin, Barry was “born in the townland of Ballysampson and lived his boyhood in the townland of Rostoonstown, both in the parish of Tacumshane.” Some stories suggest that Barry’s father was a tenant farmer who was evicted by a British landlord and had to relocate to nearby Rosslare, about four miles away.  Griffin’s book, The Story of Commodore John Barry, Father of the American Navy , published in 1908, notes that “Tacumshane Parish covers 3,000 acres and is situated between two townland locked gulfs with very narrow openings - Lake Tacumshin and Lady's Island Lake. Possibly these lakes gave young Barry the inspiration for the sea and upon both he in youth oft pulled the oar,” Griffin writes.  Barry’s uncle Nicholas Barry was a ship master

Boston's Esteemed Irish Immigrant Patrick A.Collins is Named American Consul-General to London

  General Patrick A. Collins, described in the media as "the foremost Irish-American citizen of this country," was named US Consul-General to London by President Grover Cleveland. He held the post from May 6, 1893 to May 17, 1897. The Boston Post interviewed Collins on March 17, 1893 as he was preparing to make the move to London. Collins told the report he had not sought out the post, but was offered several positions in the Cleveland Administration. "I was given my choice, and selected London as my field of work, as I am very much at home there....The duties of the consul-general simply requires business ability, knowledge of commercial affairs, diligence, tact and judgment, and I think I have a little of all of them." According to the Irish Star in Minneapolis, Cleveland had also offered the Secretary of the Navy post to Collins, who turned it down because he didn't want to be in Washington, DC.   The appointment signified "a finishing touch of romance&q

Boston Public Library Owns Rare 19th Century Irish Music Manuscript

The Boston Public Library owns a rare five-volume collection of Irish traditional music created in the 1840s by a medical doctor, editor and music lover in Dublin, Ireland.     The hand-written manuscripts belonged to Dr. Henry Philerin Hudson (1798-1889), a medical doctor who was also passionate about Irish music,  collecting tunes throughout his life.  In total, there are over 1,100 Irish tunes in the set, although some are duplicates.   Hudson died in 1887, and the five-volume manuscript was eventually donated to the Boston Public Library in 1902.  The collection is part of the Allen A. Browne Music Collection . A note in the frontmatter reads:    These volumes came to the library from Nassau Massey, 89 Patrick St., Cork.  He says in a letter (undated, written in late 1902) that he has books “from the library of Dr. Hudson” and “also his original collection of Irish airs in five volumes many of them collected by himself from the peasantry.”    Hudson was also a composer, and betwee

Exhibit of Children's Books in the Irish Language presented by Boston Public Library in March, 1989

In March, 1989, the Boston Public Library's presented a month long exhibit entitled, Turas Go Tir (Journey of the Land of Youth): An Exhibition of 20th century Children's Books in Irish, March 1-31, 1989. The exhibition featured children's books in the Irish language published in the 20th century, and were part of the Alice M. Jordan Collection, named for the first supervisor of children's services at the Boston Public Library.  Jordan was described in a local paper as "one of a wave of female librarians who crusaded for more public access to children's books, as well as better children's books, with missionary zeal in the 1920s."     The collection contains "picture books, fiction, non-fiction, toy and moveable books from the infant to the teen level from the 19th century to the present day. Foreign language material from 80 countries is represented as well," according to the Library.  Here is a list of Irish titles in the collection .  The

Mary Boyle O'Reilly, Boston Irish Journalist, Social Activist and Child Labor Reformer

  Journalist, social activist and Boston native Mary Boyle O'Reilly was the eldest of four sisters born in Charlestown to Irish patriot and poet John Boyle O'Reilly and his wife, writer Agnes Smiley Murphy. Mary was born died on May 18, 1873, and died in her home in Newton on October 21, 1939 at age 66. Her passion for protecting children and young women was a hallmark of her life.  In 1901 O’Reilly helped establish the Guild of St. Elizabeth, a Catholic settlement home for Children in Boston’s South End.  From 1907-1911 she was Massachusetts Prison Commissioner.   In 1910, she went undercover under an assumed name and uncovered the infamous baby farms that housed unwed mothers and their babies under inhumane conditions.  She helped create a law to prevent abuses at these facilities.  On the labor front, O'Reilly investigated conditions for women working in canneries and also wrote about the women garment strikers in New York in 1913.   During World War I, she wrote syndica

Northern Ireland Activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Receives State House Citation in Boston on March 14, 1986

State Rep Marie Howe, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and former State Rep Mel King, March 14, 1986 A ‘rainbow coalition’ of Massachusetts elected officials came together on Friday, March 14, 1986, to support activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey in her campaign to end British violence in Northern Ireland. McAliskey was greeted at the state house by “two Black officials, a native American, a Jewish senator, and various Americans of Irish descent,” including state representatives Marie Howe, Byron Rushing and Thomas Gallagher, senator Francis D. Doris and Jack Blackman, and former state rep Mel King, wrote the Lynn Daily Item. Other leaders including Leo Cooney of the Irish National Caucus and Boston civil rights attorney William Homans.  McAliskey was presented with an official citation signed by Senate President William M. Bulger and Speaker of the House George Keverian.  She blasted ‘misconceptions’ about the conflict in Northern Ireland, which were the result of British Government p