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A programme for a concert organised by Cumann na mBan in Bray, County Wicklow. The date is not given but an accompanying note elsewhere in the volume suggests that the event was held just a few weeks before the 1916 Rising. Many of the performers in the concert were participants in the Rising. Douglas ffrench-Mullen (1892-1943) was a younger brother of Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, the well-known republican, feminist, and labour activist. He served in the South Dublin Union under Éamonn Ceannt during the Rising. He was wounded during the fighting and was detained initially in Richmond Barracks and later at Frongoch Camp in Wales. Ffrench-Mullen was released in September 1916. His fellow accompanist at the Bray concert was the Carlow-born Cathal Mac Dubhghaill (d. 1926). A talented musician and composer, he arranged the music for Peadar Kearney ‘A Soldier’s Song’ in its published form. He participated in the Rising and was afterwards interned at Frongoch Camp, where he illustrated several well-known sketchbooks. Gerard Crofts (1888-1934) was a poet and operatic singer. During the Rising, he served with Commandant William James Brennan-Whitmore in the General Post Office and in the final retreat to Moore Street. He was court-martialled and sentenced to ten years imprisonment but was released under the terms of a general amnesty in June 1917. Seosamh MacCathmhaoil (Joseph Campbell) was born in Belfast in 1879 and emerged as an influential poet and Irish music lyricist. He supported the Rising and was active as a non-combatant during Easter Week, performing rescue and first-aid work. In 1917, he published a translation from Irish of the short stories of Patrick Pearse. He died in County Wicklow in June 1944. (Volume page 190).

A print of a drawing of the Crawford School of Art (now the Crawford Art Gallery) in Cork. The illustration is by Somhairle McCann, Principal of the School of Art from 1937 to 1967.

A clipping of a report on the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Cork city at which the local regiment of Irish National Volunteers honoured the ‘400 Volunteers who are fighting for Ireland in the trenches’. The article is taken from the ‘Daily News’ (18 March 1916).

A photograph of a sketch of James Ryan, a revolutionary and later a Fianna Fáil politician. The original sketch was drawn by Seán O’Sullivan (1906-1964) and is dated 1937.

A copy print of an engraving of Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan (c.1655-1693), an Irish Jacobite soldier. The source of the original print is not given but it likely dates to the mid-eighteenth century. A note states that the likeness of Sarsfield is derived from the ‘original picture in the possession of Sir Charles Bingham Bart. of Castlebar in the County of Mayo, in the Kingdom of Ireland’.

A copy letter from Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. to Maud Gonne MacBride (1866-1953) referring to her distress at her son's (Seán MacBride) current difficulties. Fr. Senan contents that Seán is 'well able to fight a battle too, his mother's son'. He also mentions the letter he wrote to her about Francis Stuart.

Copy letter from T.J. Kiernan (1897-1967), Irish Minister to the Holy See, to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. Kiernan refers to the deprivations of life in Rome during the war. He writes 'It will be long before life is normal. We thought life would be easy after June (air-raids in March on 7th, 8th, 9th – 3 times – and 18th; the last was beside us and the house emptied quick enough ... We had no water for months and no electricity from 4th June. But now the difficulties are all the open robberies on the streets – the bandits are armed and strip the victims as clothes and boots are so valuable'. Kiernan also gives news of his family and refers to the experiences of the Irish community in Rome.

Copy letter from T.J. Kiernan (1897-1967), Irish Minister to the Holy See, to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. Kiernan refers to the deprivations and the scarcity of food stuffs in Rome. He adds 'Altogether for seventeen months there has been no real leadership. We lock ourselves in at 7pm because there is so much highway robbery under arms. The city administration collapsed'.

Copy letter from Maud Gonne MacBride (1866-1953) to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. She recalls her visit to Assisi in Italy and her joining of the Third Order of St. Francis in 1910. She also refers to her father who was a 'colonel of the 17th Lancers ... [and] assistant adjutant in Dublin at the time of his death'. She also mentions her article on Madeleine ffrench-Mullen (1880-1944) and her founding of St. Ultan's Hopsital. She writes 'For simple goodness and faith, she was was one of the most remarkable women I have known, and in spite of being a complete invalid for many years before her death, she accomplished great work for the poor children of Dublin'.

Copy letter from James Pearse to Charles Bradlaugh. The letter reads ‘The fact is I am extremely disgusted with what I read in this morning’s papers, especially the action of the ungrateful Irish Party’.