Collection of Irish Nationalist and other songs,

1848-1849.
Bibliographic Details
Main Creator: Fogarty, John, Castlebar
Contributors: Davis, Thomas Osborne, 1814-1845
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Summary:Inscription on first page "Songs written on board the Fidelia, commenced this 12th day of September 1848".


John Fogarty left his homeland for the New World on the Fidelia crossing from Liverpool to New York. He began compiling his collection of Irish songs on the Atlantic crossing in September 1848. The latter portion of the manuscript was transcribed in Manhattan, where Fogarty lodged on St. Mark's Place near Washington Square, and contains songs that were circulating within the Irish immigrant community there.

Contains over 300 songs, many associated with the Young Ireland movement and "The Nation" newspaper. One song "The Trial Convictions & Sentences" is of the trial of the four leaders of the 1848 Young Ireland rebellion including a list of the jurors. Some songs are by leading Nationalists such as Thomas Davis, Charles Gavan Duffy, Martin McDermott, Lady Jane Wilde (mother of Oscar), and Thomas D'Arcy McGee. McGee fled to New York in the aftermath of the 1848 reebllion.
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Format: Manuscript
Language:English
Citation:National Library of Ireland. Department of Manuscripts.
Subjects:
Notes:Written mostly in shorthand using a variant of Taylor's System in a 8vo lined notebook.

Many of these songs appeared in "The Nation" and other publications. Fogarty drew on a wide range of sources including oral testimony. His use of shorthand allowed him to record the ballads that were sung by emigrants on their voyage to New York, and it would have helped to hide his radical politics in the dangerous year of 1848.

Physical description: 1 volume (110 pages) ; 19 x 12 cm.

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