Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Shaping Character: The Role Of Mythology In Society, Jaclyn Weist

Masters Theses

Throughout history, man has told stories. Some stories were written on walls, tablets, or bits of parchment. Others have been passed down to posterity through oral tradition. Every culture worldwide has a rich tapestry of legends and myths. It is my intent to demonstrate that these stories use the tools of character development within their various plot lines to both express and shape beliefs, superstitions, and life lessons. Whether they are religious in nature or simply trying to make sense of the world, these stories, myths, and legends have played a part in shaping society into what it is today.

Harbingers Of A New Age: Irish And Scots Irish Indian Fighters On The Colonial American Frontier, Christina A. Neely

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Through the examination of various points of Irish and Scots Irish settlement in the New World, a previously underrepresented portion of American history emerges to tell the story of a hearty and industrious people who literally went out into the wilderness and settled their own communities. Through their hard work and enterprising nature, they were able to not only survive in the face of extreme adversity on the frontier, but they preserved their culture for generations and contributed to the cultural, political, military, religious, and environmental influences that shaped the New World and the American nation. Their martial prowess and …

Resistance Through Existence: The Choctaw Gift To The Starving Irish In 1847 As An Act Of Agency Assertion And Cultural Preservation, Sophia Gaffney

Library Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research

In 1847, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma donated $173 dollars to an Irish Potato Famine relief fund during the potato blight, which, intersecting with an era of British oppression, resulted in about 1 million Irish dying of starvation and other hunger-related diseases. Only 15 years before, the Choctaw had been forced to relocate 500 miles, by foot, along the Trail of Tears, starting in their ancestral homeland in Mississippi and ending in what is now called Oklahoma. It is estimated that they lost about ⅓ of their population along this journey. In this thesis, I explore why a nation not …

St. Patrick's Day, Sarah Moss

Staff Work

"In some cities, there are parades, festivals, and pub crawls; the city of Chicago even dyes the Chicago River green to commemorate the holiday."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­St. Patrick's Day traditions from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/st-patricks-day/

Gruder, Vivian, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Vivian Gruder, born 1937, grew up on Fulton Avenue, across the street from Crotona Park. She fondly remembers the park and how, when her older siblings were young, people would take chairs and sit in the park to escape the heat. The area is described as a “Jewish Village,” though the schools were more mixed with Irish teachers and Italian and some classmates of color, though her friends were mostly Jewish. She remembers a baseball game of the Jewish boys versus the Italian boys. Gruder describes kosher butchers and shops along Bathgate Avenue. Her mother stayed at home, and her …

Fogelman, Charles, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Charles Fogelman’s parents came to New York City as children in the beginning of the 20th century. They were married in 1932, and his father became a doctor, fighting antisemitic quotas to go to medical school, and completing his residency at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. His father had a practice in the East Bronx, on Elder Avenue, when Fogelman was born in 1946 and he grew up in a semi-detached house nearby on Ward Avenue. He describes it as a lower-middle class, predominantly Jewish neighborhood, with Irish and Italian neighbors, and with many synagogues, so it felt very …

Fair Folk, Jamie M. Good

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This is the outline for an upcoming novel centering retold Celtic fairy tales. The project includes research about fairy lore and Celtic mythology, as well as modern Irish customs surrounding cultural beliefs surrounding fairies. This story prioritizes the Pagan versions of folklore, rather than the more modern Victorian and Christian depictions of Celtic traditions and fairies.

The outline includes an introduction, short synopsis, short summaries and goals for fifty-four chapters (the full length of the novel), a list of characters, and a short reflection.

Synopsis:

Three children, Molly, Cal, and Jack, are abducted into the fairy realm. Molly and Cal …

Brigid Of Kildare: The Saint Who Got A Facelift, Aimee Hunt

Student Research

On the outskirts of Papal authority, early medieval Ireland created its own Christian identity separate from other European nations closer to Rome. Saint Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland, played important yet problematic roles in that identity. After her death, the church began to alter her history. Being a female bishop, performing the first recorded abortion, and having both men and women within her monastery, Brigid had trodden on the male-dominated system in a way that few women had. Deemed unacceptable but having already been sainted, the Catholic church gave Brigid a holy facelift.

The Shanachie, Volume 33, Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Theater presents musical on career of ace softball pitcher Joan Joyce -- The railroad era and an Irish family -- Lyons family immigrated to Connecticut by way of Quebec -- Plumber with Leitrim roots linked to New Haven Fenians -- Collection of Irish railroad wife's writings preserved at UConn.

The Shanachie, Volume 33, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Pandemic squelches parades, but spirit of St. Patrick lives on --Hartford: First church bought in 1829, St. Patrick's built in 1849 -- Enfield: Irish priests, nuns and laypersons -- Litchfield County: St. Patrick's, St. Bridget's, St. Columcille's -- New London County: St. Patrick's Cathedral -- Mystic: High Street became Irish Hill -- Fairfield County: St. Augustine and St. Patrick team up; The little church on the Redding Ridge since 1880 -- Hartford County: Collinsville began with a snowstorm -- Middlesex County: St. Patrick and St. Bridget of Kildare -- Farmington: St. Patrick's parish prepares for a second …

The Shanachie, Volume 33, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Irish wolfhounds among New England’s earliest settlers -- Please join us for yet another year of Irish history and culture (SHU Digital Commons) -- An Irish actor, his playwright son and a Connecticut landmark -- Civil rights champion for Cape Cod Indians.

Composing Irishness: Remembrances Of The Irish Past Through The Prism Of The Present In Music By Donnacha Dennehy (B. 1970) And Jennifer Walshe (B. 1974), Timothy Diovanni

Masters

Although modern remembrances in the fields of literature, theatre, poetry, and the visual arts have received considerable scholarly attention in Ireland since the publication of History and Memory in Modern Ireland in 2001, similar activities in an Irish art music context remain unexplored. This thesis addresses this lacuna in examining how the contemporary Irish composers Donnacha Dennehy (b. 1970) and Jennifer Walshe (b. 1974) have remembered, reimagined, and reinvented the past to communicate their positions on Irish history and modern Irish society, as well as to respond to recent historical and curatorial practices. Through a series of five works written …

Inventing America's First Immigration Crisis: Political Nativism In The Antebellum West, Luke Ritter

History

Why have Americans expressed concern about immigration at some times but not at others? In pursuit of an answer, this book examines America’s first nativist movement, which responded to the rapid influx of 4.2 million immigrants between 1840 and 1860 and culminated in the dramatic rise of the National American Party. As previous studies have focused on the coasts, historians have not yet completely explained why westerners joined the ranks of the National American, or “Know Nothing,” Party or why the nation’s bloodiest anti-immigrant riots erupted in western cities—namely Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. In focusing on the antebellum …

The Shanachie, Volume 32, Number 4, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: A tale of two Thanksgivings; Irish Christmas; Tales of Thanksgivings in Plymouth and in Bridgeport; Christmas on a farm in Ireland in the 1940s; Family of 13 immigrated at holiday time; Irish recipes from a Belfast grandmother; Irish Santa Claus spread cheer for 40 years; Memories of a Christmas spent in occupied Germany.

The Shanachie, Volume 32, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: Tolland County - Many Irish footprints then & now; Irish roots deep and plentiful in Tolland County; Scots-Irish were founders of the town of Union; Irish studies programs blossom on UConn campuses; Dodd Research Center focuses on human rights; Rockville is home of extraordinary Civil War museum; From Ireland to Connecticut to Pennsylvania by 1900.

The Shanachie, Volume 32, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

In this issue: The 1918 Influeza Pandemic; Think what it must have been like in 1918; War-weary world beset by even more deadly illness; Military camps were breeding places of influenza; Connecticut toll; Plague entered state through seaport of New London; Hopelessly in the grip; School becomes hospital; Shortage of coal, cars, phone operators. Editor's note: This issue of The Shanachie is devoted entirely to recollections of Connecticut in 1918-1919 when Americans dealt with two huge tragedies: World War I and the misnamed “Spanish” Flu Epidemic. They were able to deal with that by declaring and meaning, “we are all …

The Shanachie, Volume 31, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

Connecticut and the Irish Great Hunger of 1845-1850 --Puritan humanitarian & priest aided Connecticut relief effort --Tidal wave of emigrants fled to Land of Steady Habits --Irish provided manpower for state’s industrial revolution --Irish women in demand as domestic servants --Refugees brought Catholic faith with them --Families shattered in headlong flight from starvation.

The Shanachie, Volume 31, Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

New website set up during 2019 by the Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society https://www.ctirishheritage.org/. The immediate pupose of the website is to provide online an easily accessible album of more than 100 sites of Irish footsteps across Connecticut --Irish firsts in state history --Scots-Irish colony in Windham County blossomed in the 1720s --First woman patentee was of Ulster descent --Irish-born governor John N. Dempsey flourished in the 1960s.

The Shanachie, Volume 31, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

The future of the Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden --In the 1650s a group of English Puritan colonists were invited to leave New Haven and to take over - lock, stock and barrel the city of Galway on the west coast of Ireland.

Fighting For Their Lives: Why The Marginalized Irish From The 1840s-1910 Dominated American Prizefighting, Owen Marshall

Honors Program Theses and Projects

One of the most recognizable figures in the world during his lifetime, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, previously Cassius Clay and Cassius X, put his self-esteem on display with the simple declaration “I am the greatest.” This was a phrase he told himself long before he truly was the greatest, but he proved it to the world in 1964 when he defeated defending champion Sonny Liston. Upon knocking out his dangerous, violent, and cheating opponent, Ali whipped himself into a frenzy, as onlookers saw him fall over the ropes, scream at the ringside reporters who had previously doubted him, and …

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 4, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

This 16-page issue of our newsletter commemorates the 100th anniversary of the armistice which ended World War I just 100 years ago.

Contents: Connecticut's Irish in World War I --Hartford Red Cross nurse served amid bombardments --Sgt. Stubby and Cpl. Conroy went off to war --With roots in Canada, Lafferty got into the fight early --Picketing White House in wartime: patriotic or treason? --Ansonia native among nation’s first female sailors --Medals and monument honor Fair Haven Irish lads --Daring young men in their flying machines --Knights of Columbus offered soup and solace for friend and foe alike --Sailor from Roscommon …

The Rockingham Shoot And Other Dramatic Writings Review: Good But Not Great, Eamon Maher

Articles

John McGahern is rightly renowned for his carefully crafted prose, his skill at describing characters and situations that have a universal resonance and his uncannily accurate representation of the people and places associated with his native Roscommon and Leitrim. Author of six novels, two short story collections (many of which were brought together in The Collected Stories and the posthumously published Creatures of the Earth, which contains significant new material) and a highly successful memoir, McGahern won several literary prizes and warm critical acclaim. Faber has now brought out a collection of his dramatic writings, a genre in which, …

Irish Journalists And Journalism During The American Civil War, Michael Foley

Conference Papers

Irish journalists played a significant role in the lead up to the US Civil War in ensuring the Irish population supported the Union and volunteered for the army.

John Mcgahern : Priceless Insights Into His Art, Eamon Maher

Articles

John McGahern has been the subject of a number of monographs in recent years, but this is the first essay collection dedicated to his work since the three volumes of NUI Galway’s The John McGahern Yearbook, edited by John Kenny, and the critical essays assembled by Mullen, Bargroff and Mullen in a Peter Lang publication from 2013.

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

Irish Yale prof James W. Toumey led 10-year fight that saved Sleeping Giant --When Katie O’Neill Regan of Hamden got involved in planning a family reunion, the end result was the renting of six houses in County Kerry, and a weeklong shindig of more than 40 kinfolk from the United States, Ireland and England --Connecticut Irishtown: Hamden --Four hundred men from Hamden served in the United States military during World War I. At least 75 of them were of Irish ancestry or natives of Ireland.

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

Meriden: A Connecticut Irishtown: In 1836, Paddies laid rail tracks to future industrial city --Irish population multiplied as Meriden factories prospered --Meriden’s support for Ireland’s freedom --Republican & Democrat made great team in U.S. Senate, Francis T. Maloney and John A. Danaher --Mother’s love of books inspired (Tomie) dePaola --Irish customs live on --Professor Kelly taught dancing --Anna Murphy Gibson became cemetery caretaker --Meriden was an all-star Irish baseball community --Joan Joyce led Meriden Falcons to four world titles.

The Shanachie, Volume 30, Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

Coventry sculptor David Hayes created rich legacy of artwork --Michael Carver's sacrifice in the Civil War provided a pension for his widowed mother in Norwich --Clare man Thomas Donnellan "Tom the ferryman" was a legend on the Connecticut River.

The Half-Life And Death Of The Irish Catholic Novel : In A Country Renowned For Its Catholicism, It Is Unusual The ‘Catholic Novel’ Never Took Root, Eamon Maher

Articles

In Underground Cathedrals (2010), the Glenstal monk and author Mark Patrick Hederman described artists as the “secret agents” of the Holy Spirit: “Art has the imagination to sketch out the possible. When this happens something entirely new comes into the world. Often it is not recognised for what it is and is rejected or vilified by those who are comfortable with what is already there and afraid of whatever might unsettle the status quo”. Reflecting on this position, one wonders to what extent Irish novelists have fulfilled the important role outlined by Hederman. In the past, they definitely did offer …

The Shanachie, Volume 29, Number 4, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

On Saturday, July 29, several dozen Irish currach rowers, turned the clock back to the 6th century on the waterfront at New London, a major New England seaport since the 17th century --The first Irishman fascinated by the Connecticut shoreline seems to have been Sir William Johnson, one of colonial America’s most influential, productive and flamboyant characters, who came to New London 250 years ago to recuperate --In August 1892, New London was chosen to host a three-week summer educational program that drew an estimated 600 Catholics, most of them Irish --Billiards skills brought fame and fortune to Long Neck …

The Shanachie, Volume 29. Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery has Irish roots ... and Mory's Temple Bar probably does too.