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Commemorative photographic postcard print of John Daly (1845-1916), an Irish revolutionary and Fenian.

A republican flier used to publicize the issuing of Irish Bond Certificates in the United States. A comparison is drawn between Benjamin Franklin’s visit to Ireland in 1769 and Eamon de Valera’s visit to the America in 1919. The flier asks ‘Will America do unto Ireland in 1920 as Ireland did unto America in 1769?’ Readers are asked to ‘Subscribe for the bond certificates of the Republic of Ireland and mail your check today to Eamon De Valera, 411 Fifth Avenue, New York’.

A pamphlet dedicated by the author to Casement’s ‘dearest surviving friend on earth his loving sister Mrs Newman’. The text was written by John Clarke (1868-1934), a County Antrim-born nationalist and journalist who wrote numerous articles on Gaelic cultural revivalist subjects, frequently using the penname ‘Benmore’.

A handbill by the Most Rev. Michael Fogarty (1859-1955), Bishop of Killaloe, protesting against the treatment of Thomas Ashe whilst on hunger strike.

Letter from William Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, to Cardinal William Henry O’Connell, Archbishop of Boston. The printed letter refers to the former’s donation of £105 to the Irish National Fund inaugurated by the First Dáil.

A handbill using a quotation from President Wilson’s address to the Senate of the United States on 22nd January 1917. The text encourages American recognition of the Irish Republic. Published by the Irish Nation League, 27 Dawson Street, Dublin.

The Report of the Royal Commission on the Rebellion in Ireland in 1916. A Royal Commission of Inquiry was established under Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst (1858-1944) to investigate the causes of the Rising. The commission commenced its work on 18 May 1916 and it heard evidence over nine days from key figures including Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland (1905-1916), and Neville Chamberlain, the Inspector General of the Royal Irish Constabulary. The report of the commission was published on 26 June 1916. The report outlined conclusions drawn from the commission of inquiry. It criticized the administrative and intelligence systems in place in Ireland. It reached the general conclusion that the main cause of the rebellion, ‘appears to be that lawlessness was allowed to grow up unchecked, and that Ireland for several years past has been administered on the principle that it was safer and more expedient to leave the law in abeyance if collision with any faction of the Irish people could thereby be avoided'.

A photographic postcard print of a prize-winning republican pipe band from Cork in 1919. The print is captioned 'Irish Republican Army Prize Pipe Band, Cork - Oireachtas Prize Winners, 1918-1919'. The Cork Volunteers’ Pipe band was founded by Tomás MacCurtain in February 1914.

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).