THE EMIGRATION OF IRISH WOMEN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Contributed by: Helen Fallon. June 1996 Enquiries to: Fallonh@ccmail.dcu.ie Introduction Emigration has been a feature of Irish life for the last two centuries. Much has been written on the topic, but until the last decade this has focused on either men, or alternatively has examined emigrant groups as one homogenous unit, regardless of the gender make up of the group. The fate which befell the male emigrant has been well documented in history, literature, and film. The female emigrant has received much less coverage, and where she does occur in literature and film, she is very often cast in the role of Brigid, the maid with the Irish temper and the heart of gold. This stereotyping has contributed to the writing out of Irish women's unique experience of emigration. In this bibliography I have excluded articles and books which have very short references to women and emigration. For example, books such as Kerby Miller's _Emigrants and Exiles_ do list women in the index, but the actual content is very brief, and much more extensive coverage is given elsewhere. Helen Fallon. June 1996 Enquiries to Fallonh@ccmail.dcu.ie Akenson, Donald Harman. (1993). Women and the Irish Diaspora: the Great Unknown. In The Irish Diaspora : a primer. (pp. 157-187). Belfast, Queen's University of Belfast. This chapter identifies five distinct periods of female emigration. It examines the demographic characteristics of the outflow, dividing immigrant women into groups - widows with children, married women with husbands and children and so forth. The traditional push/pull factors are examined, including the quest for emancipation from a society imposing rigid social and economic constraints on women. Blessing, Patrick J. (1992). The Irish in America : a guide to the literature and manuscript collections. Washington, The Catholic University of America Press. Twelve pages (122-134) of this book are devoted to sources relating to women. Journal articles, theses, pamphlets, books and reports are included. In addition to material of social, historical and political interest some coverage is given to popular literature depicting the Irish emigrant. A drawback of this listing is that some of the sources are very general, and only have brief references to women. Clark, Dennis. (1995). Irish women workers and American labor patterns : the Philadelphia story. In Patrick O'Sullivan (ed.), Irish women and Irish migration (pp. 112-130). (The Irish World Wide, V. 4) London, Leicester University Press. This article traces the employment of Irish women in pre-Industrial, Industrial and post-Industrial Philadelphia. As the second largest English speaking city in the British empire, Eighteenth century Philadelphia was the destination for many indentured Irish labourers. In return for passage, these people were taken into American households and bound for terms of seven, fourteen or twenty-one years. Initially, the majority of Irish women were in domestic service, but with the development of the factory system, many chose this as an alternative. Cohen, Marilyn. (1995). The migration experience of female-headed households: Gilford, Co. Down, to Greenwich, New York, 1880 - 1910. In Patrick O'Sullivan, (ed.) Irish women and Irish migration (pp.130-145). (The Irish World Wide, V. 4). London, Leicester University Press. This chapter compares the experiences of female headed households, whose source of income was initially from the linen factory in Gilford, County Down, and who subsequently emigrated to a linen factory at Greenwich, New York. The author examines demographic characteristics, residential patterns, household survival strategies and opportunities. Similar material constraints faced women in Greenwich as in Gilford. The author concludes that households headed by women both in the past and present are persistent in their experience of poverty. Diner, Hasia R. (1983). Erin’s daughters in America. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins. Starting from an analysis of the society that Irish women were leaving, this book explores patterns of female emigration from Nineteenth Century Ireland, and the lives the migrants subsequently carved out for themselves in the United States. Chapter arrangement is by topic. The author draws on a variety of sources including letters, songs, photographs and documents of the period. The final chapter provides an analysis of why Irish women rejected the emerging women's movement. Fitzpatrick, David. (1986). A Share of the honeycomb: education, emigration and Irishwomen. Continuity and Change 1(2), pp. 217-234. Fitzpatrick identifies the Post-Famine period as a time when women's opportunities became even more restricted than previously. Within Ireland women sought to escape a life of drudgery by becoming better educated, and many who did not have that opportunity decided to emigrate. Fitzpatrick examines the impact of both education and emigration on women's lives. Fitzpatrick, David. (1994). These golden shores : Isabella Wyley, 1856-1877 In David Fitzpatrick Oceans of consolation : personal accounts of Irish migration to Australia. (pp. 96-138). Cork, Cork University Press. Following explanatory background information which Fitzpatrick provides, this chapter reproduces ten letters sent by Isabella Alice Wyley to her brother's family in Newry, Co. Down between 1856 and 1877. A young servant girl living in Dublin, Wyley left Ireland in September 1851. Her letters depict the life she led in South Australia as a shopkeepers wife, and the mother of ten children. Fitzpatrick, David. (1994). Queensland for every, augus un Ballybug go Braugh : Biddy Bourke, 1882-1884. In David Fitzpatrick Oceans of consolation : personal accounts of Irish migration to Australia. (pp. 139-158) Three letters from Biddy Bourke in Brisbane to her family in Galway survive. A farmer's daughter, Biddy and her brother set out on the journey to Australia in 1880. Biddy received a free passage as a domestic servant. She married and settled in Queensland. A sense of loss, and nostalgia for home pervade her letters, which are prefaced by an introduction by David Fitzpatrick. Gabbaccia, Donna. (1989). Immigrant women in the United States : a selected annotated multidisciplinary bibliography. New York, Greenwood Press. This bibliography is divided into twelve subject chapters, one of which is migration. A "country of origin" index gives over two hundred entries for Ireland. Some of these are very small sections in works. Indexes of authors, persons and groups are also included. Because of the time involved in the publication process, very little material after 1986 is included. Carol Groneman. (1978). Working-class immigrant women in mid-Nineteenth Century New York: The Irish women's experience. Journal of Urban History 4(3), pp. 255-273. Groneman examines the employment opportunities for women in Ireland, as domestic servants, spinners and seasonal labourers. Job opportunities in New York were primarily as domestic servants, and to a lesser degree as seamstresses. She looks at the incidence of prostitution in the emigrant Irish population. She concludes that while family ties were strained by immigration, the Irish brought with them and maintained enduring family patterns and ways of life. Houston, Cecil J. & Smyth, William J. (1990). Jane White: Townswoman in Upper Canada. In Cecil J. Houston and William J. Smyth. Irish Emigration and Canadian Settlement: Patterns, links, and letters. Toronto, University of Toronto Press. Jane White and her family emigrated from County Down in 1849. Unlike many of the Irish emigrants, she was from a prosperous background. The six letters she sent to her friend Eleanor offer an interesting picture of the life the Protestant Irish bourgeoisie lived in North America. An introduction by the authors gives background information to their emigration. Hoy, Suellen. (1995). The journey out : the recruitment and emigration of Irish religious women to the United States, 1812-1914. Journal of Women's history 6(4) / 7(1), (Winter / Spring), pp. 64-98. This article traces the two waves of emigration from Ireland to religious orders in the United States. Beginning in 1812, when three Ursuline sisters travelled to New York to establish the first foundation of Irish nuns in the U.S. until 1881, the pattern was of dowried women from Middle class families travelling to cater for the educational needs of a rapidly growing Irish population. The second wave were recruited by these nuns, frequently from Children of Mary Sodalities. Dowry became a less important factor than education at that stage. Hoy, Suellen and MacCurtain, Margaret. (1994). From Dublin to New Orleans: the journey of Nora and Alice. Dublin, Attic Press. Part one of this three part work introduces Honoria Prendiville and Alicia Joseph Nolan. In 1889, they left the Dominican boarding school in Cabra to begin a life in religion as Dominican sisters in New Orleans. The diaries which Nora and Alice kept during their journey across the Atlantic follow. These diaries, which record everyday events on the ship journey, were kept in black copy books, which were returned to the Cabra convent, where they remained undisturbed for over a century. Irwin, Leonora. (1989). Women convicts from Dublin 1836-1840. In Bob Reece (ed.) Irish convicts: the origin of convicts transported to Australia. (pp. 161-191). Dublin, University College Dublin, Department of Modern History. Between 1836 and 1840, 212 women were convicted and transported to Australia from Dublin city and county. This chapter draws on transportation registers, convict reference files and the "Freeman's Journal" to examine by these women were transported. Irwin concludes that women turned to crime as a direct result of poverty and destitution and an inadequate relief system. Jackson, Pauline. (1984). Women in 19th Century Irish emigration. International Migration Review, 18(4), pp. 1004-1020. Jackson examines the emigration of women from Ireland during and after the famine. Emigration was a flight from poverty as well as a means of escaping an increasingly patriarchal society. It offered women a better life in a time of dwindling career and marriage opportunities. Kennedy, Robert E. (1973). Female emigration and the movement from rural to urban areas. In Robert E. Kennedy. The Irish: emigration, marriage and fertility. (pp.66-85). Berkeley, University of California Press. This chapter utilises demographic data from various census' to examine patterns of female emigration during the last 125 years. It examines push/pull factors, and puts some emphasis on a study of life expectancy of females versus males. Letford, Lynda & Pooley, Colin G. (1995). Geographies of migration and religion: Irish women in mid-Nineteenth century Liverpool. In Patrick O'Sullivan (ed.) Irish women and Irish migration (Irish world Wide, V. 4), (pp. 89-112). London, Leicester University Press. This chapter focuses on the experiences of a group of Catholic women living in mid-Victorian Liverpool. It concludes that in addition to the problems faced by all low income women in Liverpool at that time, Irish women faced two other major disadvantages; their husbands fared poorly in the labour market, therefore, their incomes were lower than the norm, and they experienced more discrimination because they were both female and Catholic. McLoughlin, Dympna. (1995). Superfluous and unwanted deadweight: the emigration of Nineteenth century Irish pauper women. In Patrick O'Sullivan (ed.) Irish women and Irish migration (Irish World Wide, V. 4), (pp. 66-88). London, Leicester University Press. Between 1840 and 1870 over fifty thousands women living in Irish workhouses were given assistance to emigrate. This chapter looks at the social and economic conditions which prevailed at the time, and the conditions under which women lived in the workhouses. A case study of a scheme whereby 33 women from the South County Dublin workhouse were sent to Quebec in 1863 is also given. Miller, Kerby A. with Doyle, David N and Kelleher, Patricia. (1995). For love and liberty: Irish women, migration and domesticity in Ireland and America, 1815-1920. In Patrick O'Sullivan, (ed.) Irish women and Irish Migration (Irish World Wide, V. 4), (pp. 41-65). London, Leicester University Press. This chapter examines the push/pull factors which led to a significant increase in the number of women emigrating in post-famine Ireland. It disagrees with the thesis that conditions for women in Irish society were better before the famine. Through memoirs and letters, there is some examination of the lives emigrant women led in America. Mooney, Brenda. (1989). Women convicts from Wexford and Waterford, 1836- 1840. In Bob Reece. (ed.) Irish convicts: the origins of convicts transported to Australia (pp. 115-127). Dublin, University College Dublin, Department of Modern History. In this paper Mooney re-evaluates the traditional image of the female convict as a women of dubious character and morality. She examines the offences of female convicts in the prosperous trade towns of Wexford and Waterford in the 1830's. The most frequent offence was theft, and the majority of offenders were in the 21-29 age group. Murphy, Mary. (1992). A place of greater opportunity: Irish women's search for home, family and leisure in Butte, Montana. Journal of the West 31(2), pp. 73-79. Irish women emigrants who settled in Butte, Montana found opportunities they had been denied in Ireland. They remitted earnings, and maintained the pattern of chain migration. Frequent accidents in the mines, meant there was a large number of widows. Irish customs were maintained in the new country. Neville, Grace. (1992). She never then after that forgot him: Irishwomen and emigration to the United States in Irish folklore. Mid-America: An Historical Review 74(3), pp. 271-289. Drawing on the archives of the Department of Folklore, University College Dublin, the author uses interviews to portray the everyday life of the female emigrant between 1885 and 1920. She notes the prominent role given to women in emigrant songs, and recurrent themes such as heart break, sickness and death. Nolan, Janet. (1989). Ourselves alone: women's emigration from Ireland 1885-1920. Kentucky, University of Kentucky Press. Nolan examines the demographic changes in the Irish population between 1885 and 1920, when 700,000 women emigrated from Ireland. Nolan looks at the changing economic and social conditions in Ireland, which rendered so many women superfluous to the Irish economy. The experiences of the women in the United States are also examined. O'Brien, Margaret J.. (1988). Cork Women for Australia: assisted emigration 1830-1840. Cork Historical Society Journal XCIII, pp. 21-30. Under a system of state-assisted emigration young single domestic and farm workers, were granted free or subsidised passage to Australia. Many of these women came from workhouses. Their departure was welcomed by the Irish authorities, at a time when the urban and rural parts of Cork were experiencing a decline due to the increasing mass of unemployed landless labourers, and the decline of the textile industry. O'Carroll, Ide. (1990). Nineteenth Century emigration: A unique pattern for Irish women? In Ide O'Carroll. Models for movers: Irish women's emigration to America. (pp. 17-19). Dublin, Attic Press. This chapter briefly examines the changes in post-famine Ireland which were influential in women’s decision to emigrate. These factors included single son inheritance and a resultant decline in marriage opportunities for women. O’Carroll notes the female chain migration patterns, and the support structures which developed along gender lines. Rhodes, Rita M. (1992). Women and emigration in Post-Famine Ireland. In Rita M Rhodes Women and the family in Post-famine Ireland: status and opportunity in a patriarchal society. (pp. 243-334). New York, Garland Press. Rhodes provides an analysis of the family as an economic unit, wherein emigration was one more tactic used by rural families to expland family income. Daughters were regarded as more reliable and therefore more likely to remit than sons, also the emotional structure of Irish families often was an encouragement for males to stay at home. She also examines chain migration patterns, perceptions of the country of destination, and opportunities for employment in the United States. Robinson, Portia. (1986). From Colleen to Matilda : Irish Women Convicts in Australia, 1788-1828. In Colm Kiernan (ed.). Australia and Ireland 1788-1988: Biecentenary Essays. (pp. 96-111). Dublin, Gill and Macmillan. During the early 19th Century most Irish convicts were transported to New South Wales. Robinson looks at the society the Irish women were entering, the image of the woman convict, and the various accounts of colonial life in New South Wales, which exist. The significant input of women to the development of the colony is also considered. Rossiter, Ann (1993). Bringing the margins into the centre : a Review of aspects of Irish women's emigration from a British perspective. In Ailbhe Smyth (ed.) Irish Women's Studies Reader. Dublin, Attic Press; also in Hutton, Sean and Stewart, Paul (eds.) Ireland's Histories: aspects of state, society and ideology. London, Routledge. This chapter examines the changing economic role of women in Mid-Nineteenth Century Ireland. Rossiter examines traditional push factors, such as the shift from tillage to pasture and single son inheritance. About half the chapter deals with Nineteenth Century emigration, the remainder relating to the Twentieth Century. Walter, Bronwen. (1989). Gender and Irish migration to Britain. (Geography Working Paper no. 4). Cambridge, Anglia Higher Education College, School of Geography. Between 1876 and 1921, 84% of all Irish emigrants went to the United States and only 4% to Britain. The majority of emigrants to the United States were women, while slightly fewer women than men emigrated to Britain. Since 1921 that pattern has reversed. Walter looks at the push/pull factors which influenced women's decision to emigrate. Pages 1-18 deal with the Nineteenth Century. Compiled by Helen Fallon Fallonh@ccmail.dcu.ie