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A collection of street ballad leaflets assembled by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. (1876-1965), a Capuchin friar, in 1921. The handbills relate to events in the War of Independence from 1919-21. This contentious period produced its share of controversial literature mainly in the form of leaflets, handbills, ballads and other forms of popular street literature. The treatment of prisoners during the War of Independence was the subject of political and social outrage and was reflected in popular ballads celebrating the lives of Kevin Barry, Patrick Moran, Thomas Traynor and other republican prisoners executed in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin and in other locations following courts martial from 1920-1. Most of the ballads recounted popular stories told in simple metre, and set to (mostly) traditional airs. The ballad titles include:
'Kevin Barry'
'The Bould Black & Tan'
'God Save the Peelers'
'Commandant McKeown'
'My Little Grey Home in Mountjoy'
'Thomas Traynor / Died for Ireland / Mountjoy Prison / April 26 '21'
'Brave sons of Granuaile'
'The Standard of Green, White & Gold / A Song of Truce'
'Latest Hit / If you're Irish We're goin' to Suppress you'

A report of speech by the Bishop of Limerick, a self-proclaimed nationalist and land-reformer, referring to contemporary political opinion. Alone of all the Irish Hierarchy, O’Dwyer was the only one to support the leaders of the 1916 Rising. A sentence beginning ‘Ireland will never be content as a province’ is underlined in the text. With 'Irish Emigrants and English Mobs / Letter from the Bishop of Limerick' (10 Nov. 1915).

A pamphlet in the republican interest referring to those interned by British authorities in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising. Written by the Most Rev. Edward Thomas O’Dwyer (1842-1917), Bishop of Limerick. Published in Limerick, 1917.

Letter dated 13 Nov. 1922, signed Proinnsias Ó Gallchobhair (Frank Gallagher), and addressed to the Most Rev. Edward Joseph Byrne, Archbishop of Dublin (1872-1940). The letter refers to the treatment of Republican prisoners. Published in Glasgow and printed by Kirkwood & Co.

An Anti-Treaty handbill (black typescript on buff coloured paper), urging Free State soldiers to lay down their arms. It reads: ‘Ireland has one enemy, the infamous English enemy. She has tricked you, kindly, simple lads, as she tricked Irishmen all through the ages of war against her. … The Irish Republic is not dead. A hundred thousand armed men are in Ireland to-day ready to give their lives that it may live. You are killing them as the R.I.C. tried to kill you’.

A handbill in the form of an ironic attack on the Free State leaders. This Anti-Oath flyer quotes the articles in the Free State constitution which refer to allegiance to ‘the King’ and refers to Kevin O’Higgins’ support for them.