Imirce Digital Collection of Irish Emigrant Letters

The Imirce project has been featured in an episode of RTÉ's Documentary on One. The episode is available now in all podcast apps. Imirce is a digital archive of approximately 7,000 Irish-American emigrant letters and memoirs dating from the late 1600s through to the mid-20th century.

The archive was collected over 5 decades by Kerby A. Miller, Emeritus Professor of History at University of Missouri and Honorary Professor of History at University of Galway, who donated the material to the University of Galway Library in 2021.

RTÉ Producer Tim Desmond spoke to members of the project team and selected some of the many, many stories contained within the letters to profile for the show. The letter authors are represented in their own words, with the help of voice actors.

Among them you will meet:

Mary Adams, a young Presbyterian woman from Antrim who, in 1818, wrote to her sister about a decadent wedding banquet she attended in South Carolina, replete with "rich cakes ornamented with leaf gold & artificial flowers, wreaths and spangles, costly viands, sparkling wines & variety of delicious fruit."
Julia Fields from Co. Meath who writes home to her friend Mrs. Corrigan in November 1844 to let her know that she has arrived safely in New York City, "on board the Superb [ ] after a voyage of 6 weeks without Sickness death or danger."
Margaret and John Nagle, a daughter and father, who write back and forth to each other in the 1860s/ 1870s. They remain in touch over Margaret's recent emigration. As she settles into her new life in New York, her father keeps her informed about the minutiae of daily life back in rural Cork, including not letting her younger sister Mary pierce her ears when she wanted to.
The O’Callaghans of Fallagh who lost their precious son and brother Patrick, a soldier in the American army, to an unexpected suicide in 1885.
And the Belfast-born James Quinn [alias Tim O'Brien] who sent [more than] ‘a few cocktail scented kisses’ home to his mother along his travels in the 1920s, from Niagara Falls, New York and Los Angeles to Panama, Cuba and the Amazon.

These characters and more are highlighted to give a brief, but impactful introduction to the collection, providing a taste of the diverse range of triumphs and hardships of the Irish emigrant experience in North America.

The digital curation of Miller's collection is ongoing and set to conclude in early 2025. You can explore more than 4,000 letters for yourself here: imirce.universityofgalway.ie/

Growing Imirce

The project team is committed to continuing Kerby's work by accepting new donations of emigrant letters and memoirs to add to the Imirce digital repository.

If you know of someone who may have inherited letters from emigrant family members in North America, please do get in touch. You'll find details about making a donation here on the website: imirce.universityofgalway.ie/p/ms/contribute.

We welcome donations of original manuscripts and/ or digital copies, as preferred by the donor and their family. New donor contributions received thus far are being processed for release online in February/ March 2025.

Feel free to get in touch at imirce@universityofgalway.ie if you have any questions.

Author

Marie-Louise Rouget is the Project Digital Archivist for the Kerby Miller Collection. In 2023, she published her graduate research, titled 'Grave Concerns: the state of public cemetery records management in South Africa'.

Images

Image 1: Timothy P. Quinn/ O'Brien, Timothy P. Quinn/ O'Brien, Havana, Cuba, to his mother Mrs. Annie Quinn, Belfast, Ireland, 22 September [?] [detail], Kerby A. Miller Collection, University of Galway, Asset Id 80803, Archival Record Id p155/110/2/1

Image 2: Timothy P. Quinn/ O'Brien, Front page of bound letters written by James Quinn (Alias Tim O'Brien), arranged by letter donor. Kerby A. Miller Collection, University of Galway, Archival Record Id p155/110/2/3

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