Irish America

Irish America

History Archives

Lovely Lola: The Countess Who Became the Vamp of the Mining Camps

By Rosemary Rogers
June / July 2014

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There was a time in the mid-19th century when all Europe raved about the Spanish dancer, Lola Montez, not realizing that she wasn’t Spanish and couldn’t dance. She wowed them in Paris, London, Berlin and St. Petersburg with her famous Spider Dance, a number that had Lola wearing a black mantilla, clicking castanets and shaking tarantulas out of her petticoats. When the hairy … [Read more...] about Lovely Lola: The Countess Who Became the Vamp of the Mining Camps

Oscar & Doc: A trip to Leadville, Colorado

By John Kernaghan
June / July 2014

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You hoist one of Colorado’s fine craft beers at the long, dark bar of the Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville, and consider this possibility: had history played out a little differently, Oscar Wilde and Doc Holliday might have exchanged bon mots right at this spot. Both caroused here, Wilde in 1882, Holliday a year later. They both provided memorable episodes in a wild … [Read more...] about Oscar & Doc: A trip to Leadville, Colorado

Brían Boru’s Last Battle

Adapted from The Story of the Irish Race, by Seumas MacManus
Devin Adair Publishing
April / May 2014

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A thousand years ago, on April 23, 1014, the Battle of Clontarf, and Brían Boru’s last costly victory, changed Irish political life forever.  The following, from The Story of the Irish Race by Seumas MacManus, sets the scene in Ireland prior to the battle.The SettingIrish literature of a thousand years ago is obsessed with the occupation of Ireland by the Norse (also referred … [Read more...] about Brían Boru’s Last Battle

The Orphan Trains

By Tom Riley, Contributor
April / May 2014

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Over 250,000 children were transported from New York to the Midwest over a 75-year period (1854-1929) in the largest mass migration of children in American history. As many as one in four were Irish.Life in the 19th century in New York City could be brutal for a child.  A magnet to immigrants in search of  work, it was also a haven for alcoholics, drug addicts, thieves and … [Read more...] about The Orphan Trains

The Fifth Province

By Dr. Miriam Nyham, Contributor
February / March 2014

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There is a well-known Irish saying: ar scáth a chéile a mhaireas na daoine that can be loosely translated as “it is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” Particularly during acts of migration, this adage becomes a critical component of immigrant success. In New York and other parts of the United States, as Irish immigrants attempted to recreate a sense of home in … [Read more...] about The Fifth Province