Typescript letter from Risteárd Ó Maolchatha (Richard Mulcahy), Chief of Staff of the IRA, to Terence MacSwiney, expressing his alarm on hearing that he ‘had been going about Cork during the day and even staying at home and elsewhere at night without any protection’. Mulcahy added ‘I want you to try and realise what a blow it would be to our prestige, if, after, what has happened in Cork, you should be attacked without having a scrap of protection … . A simple general instruction is being issued on this matter, but you must understand that your position is unique …’. Manuscript annotation on the reverse: ‘Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne’.
Letter from Rev. P.J. O’Rourke, Heppner, Oregon, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. enclosing a duplicate copy draft for £65 12s 6d. Fr. O’Rourke added ‘Knowing dear Father you can apply it to the best advantage. The donors wished it to be given principally to the survivors of those who fell during Easter Week’. With cover which has been opened by the censor. With an acknowledgment letter from F.X. Coghlan, Irish National Aid and Volunteer Dependents’ Fund, 10 Exchequer St., Dublin. Includes receipt to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. for the sum £65 12 6d received from the aforementioned parishioners of Heppner, Oregon.
Letter from Rev. Michael Curran, Pontifical Irish College Rome, to Terence MacSwiney, expressing his hope that ‘it may be possible for you to come to Rome for the celebration of the festivities connected with beatification of Oliver Plunkett’. Rev. Curran adds ‘We are fully aware of the extraordinary difficulties that must stand in the way of such a visit at such a time … In case you find yourself unable to come perhaps some other delegate might be sent from the Corporation of Cork’.
A letter from Peter F. Anson, St. Augustine’s, Datchet, Slough, to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. seeking additional copies of ‘The Capuchin Annual’. Anson also refers to the possibility of including his illustrations in future additions of the periodical.
A letter from Patrick James Smyth, Auburn Villa, Rathgar, Dublin, to James Joseph O’Kelly, referring to the recruitment of an Irish brigade for service in France. The letter reads ‘Shortly after the capitulation of Sedan, I was informed by Mr. T.D. Sullivan that an accredited agent of the French government was in Dublin … and that he wished to see me’. The letter appears to be incomplete. The letter is endorsed ‘7204’.
A letter from Patrick James Smyth (1823-1885), Auburn Villa, Rathgar, Dublin, introducing James Joseph O’Kelly to Monsieur de Taillon in Caen, France. The letter is endorsed ‘7211’.
Letter from Patrick J. MacNally, Commandant, Collins’ Barracks, Cork, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. enclosing a typescript copy of his unfinished account of the Easter Week Rising. Comdt. MacNally also encloses a rough sketch of the Church Street area upon which he asks Fr. Aloysius to ‘mark roughly the positions of any barricades you saw … [and] houses that were occupied’. He also attaches ‘a sketch of the Bride Street area … to enable you to fix the corner where you stood at the surrender of Eamonn Ceannt’.
Letter from Patrick Holohan, ‘Number: 975, hut 2, Irish Prisoner … Frongoch, North Wales’ to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., Church Street, Dublin, referring to the provision of religious services and giving news of conditions and prisoners at the camp. Holohan adds ‘I was glad to hear that you were with Heuston when he died as I was very fond of him. It is delightful to see all our leaders being converted to the Catholic faith’. With cover which has been opened by the censor.
