File 1 - Father Mathew Pavilion at the Cork International Exhibition

Reference code

IE CA FM RES/3/2/1

Title

Father Mathew Pavilion at the Cork International Exhibition

Date(s)

  • 1901-1903 (Creation)

Level of description

File

Extent and medium

42 items; Manuscript, typescript and newspaper cutting

Name of creator

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Scope and content

File relating to the commemoration of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC at the 1902 Cork International Exhibition. Proposed by Edward Fitzgerald, Lord Mayor of Cork, this exhibition and fair showcased many facets of the industrial revival in Ireland. The exhibition included a pavilion devoted to the life and work of Fr. Mathew. The installation of a Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition was primarily the result of work done by Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC (1874-1951). The Exhibition Pavilion was designed by James F. McMullen, architect. The file includes:
• Letters relating to the loan of exhibits, temperance souvenirs, personal effects, paintings and mementos displayed in the Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition. Correspondents include Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC, Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Fr. Mathew’s collateral descendants, J.D. Power, James Nugent, Fr. J. Kane, Parish Priest of Culdaff, Derry, Joshua Baily and William O’Connell.
• Letter from Denis Downey, Dawson Street, Dublin, to Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC regarding a painting of Fr. Mathew in his possession. Downey adds ‘the late Father Columbus [Maher OSFC] of Church Street with Miss Redmond, the artist, called here and sketched the features for the O’Connell Street Statue, and Father Columbus told me he would purchase the picture as soon as he would be free from debt over the building of the Hall in Church Street’. 24 Jan. 1902.
• Letter from Thomas S. Bowdern, Supreme Council of the Knights of Father Mathew, St. Louis, Missouri, to Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC thanking him for his kindness in sending ‘souvenirs of the Great Apostle of Temperance’. Bowdern wrote ‘I assure you we appreciate very highly these souvenirs and will hand them down to our successors in the Knights of Father Mathew that in the flight of years they will become even more and more highly prized if such is possible’. Reference is also made to the Knights’ intention to build a statue of Fr. Mathew for the World Fair. ‘As it is the desire to make our statue after the one in Cork I have been asked to write to you to have you inquire whether there is a replica or moulds in existence of the Cork monument’. 24 Feb. 1903.
• Copybook containing notes on the provenance of many of the items displayed in the Pavilion including temperance certificates and medals, Fr. Mathew’s stole, portrait paintings, Fr. Mathew’s piano and a model of the Capuchin chapel on Blackamoor Lane, Cork.
• Caption panels for objects displayed in the exhibition. Includes descriptions and provenance details for commemorative plates, teapots and other artefacts associated with Fr. Mathew. One of the captions reads: ‘The marble chimney-place at present in Refectory was also left in Father Mathew’s house when he left it, and was presented to Community by Mrs Ryan’.
• Visitors’ Book to the Father Mathew Pavilion at the Cork International Exhibition in 1902. The visitors included Cardinal Michael Logue, Archbishop of Armagh. A note on the final page by Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC reads ‘No. of visitors over 4,500’.
• Copy prints showing Fr. Thomas Dowling OSFC outside the Father Mathew Pavilion at the exhibition in 1902. The other print shows the interior of the Pavilion with various artefacts associated with Fr. Mathew on display.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Note

‘The Father Mathew Pavilion at the Cork exhibition was visited by thousands of people. Among the objects exhibited that once belonged to Fr. Mathew was the old altar from Blackamoor Lance, where the Father’s chapel and poor dwelling were. His vestments were in a case nearby, his little piano, walking-stick, chairs, tables, clock, portraits innumerable; the banner carried in his first temperance procession; temperance medals worn by Father Mathew himself or received from his hand; in fact, hundreds of treasured mementoes of a great and good man’. Source: 'The Sacred Heart Review', Vol. 28, No. 22, 29 Nov. 1902, p. 12.

Alternative identifier(s)

Subject access points

Place access points

Genre access points

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area

Related subjects

Related genres

Related places