- unitid
-
{"value"=>"992491", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1919-1922", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1919/1922"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1919
- date_inclusive_end
-
1922
- keydate
-
1919
- date_start
-
1919
- date_end
-
1922
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"II. Friends of Irish Freedom correspondence"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Friends of Irish Freedom was organized in 1916 by the Clan-na-Gael at the first Irish Race Convention in New York City. The group had four aims: to assist any group that worked to bring about the independence of Ireland, assist in the industrial development of Ireland, support the use and sale of Irish products, and revive Irish culture.</p> <p>Fifteen members of the executive board of the Friends were members of the Clan, including Judge Daniel F. Cohalan, a member of the Supreme Court of New York. Cohalan was one of the most influential figures in Irish-American politics and he dominated the Friends. He exerted his power over the organization to raise money for issues he felt were important, the most important of which was to counter British propaganda in America. This provoked discord amongst other members of the Friends and the Clan, including William J. Maloney, Patrick McCartan, and Joseph McGarrity, who felt that the priority should be an independent Ireland.</p> <p>In 1919, Eamonn De Valera, President of the Dáil Éireann, instituted a bond drive to raise funds for the new government in Ireland. The Friends initially assisted in this drive, but De Valera snubbed them during his visit to the United States that year. He also appointed another organization, the American Commission on Irish Independence, to run the bond drive in the United States. The Friends accepted donations from their members and forwarded them on to the Commission.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>This series contains correspondence regarding the Irish bond issue and membership issues of the Friends of Irish Freedom. The majority of the correspondence is regarding donations to the bond drive instituted by Eamonn De Valera in 1919. The first half of the correspondence contains letters between Diarmuid Lynch, National Secretary of the Friends, and Frank P. Walsh, Chairman of the American Commission on Irish Independence, who had been appointed by De Valera to raise funds for the bond drive. The second half of the series contains mostly correspondence between Lynch and members of the Friends who had not received their bonds; Lynch forwarded these letters on to the Commission.</p>"}
- container
-
{"type"=>"box", "value"=>"4"}
{"type"=>"folder", "value"=>"4-9"}