Expenditure accounts in connection with the building of a new Friary on Walkin Street. The accounts provide details of expenditure including Stephen Lalor, builder (£1,337 12s 7d); Samuel Hynes, architect (£100); alms house purchase (£315 2s 0d). A noted is appended to the accounts: ‘The above items were paid by cheque from bank. Some other items in connection with demolition of old house, repairing of new Alms House &c come under the ordinary expenses of the house’. Includes statement of ‘total amount of contract for addition &c to church and convent, Kilkenny, £3,430 13s 3d’. Endorsed on verso ‘statement of accounts given by Fr. Fidelis on the state of his house’.
A flier titled 'A plea for the Catholic Boy’s Brigade by E.D. Daly'. The flier refers to the good works performed by Boys’ Brigade members in the Church Street area and seeks subscriptions to aid the organisation. It reads: ‘At present Church Street is not quite up to the mark of its energetic past. The sites of several of its rookeries of wickedness are now covered by Police Courts, and by buildings in which Capuchins carry on their work. …. How long this breeding ground of sin and crime existed in the past must be left to imagination. What is certain is that this worst spot of the worst city in Ireland was selected by the Capuchin Order as a place in which to live, beside the poor, and to help them against temptations to crime and intemperance. To anyone who can feel for the poor, and understand evils around them which they do not realise themselves, the way to Church Street from Sackville Street is still like a descent into Hades, if traversed about 8 p.m. at this time of year’. The file contains three copies of the document.
Annotated photographic prints (black and white, half-length portrait) of William Coffey, ‘treasurer in the active workers’ and Peter Tierney, ‘the first organiser along with Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC’.
The clippings relate mainly to notifications of public meetings, events, entertainments, and parades associated with the Boys’ Brigade, Church Street. Some of the clippings also provide lists of subscribers and details of fund-raising efforts. Includes clippings from the 'Freeman’s Journal', 'Daily Nation', 'Daily Express', and 'Evening Telegraph'. Some of the annotated clippings were loosely inserted into a hard-covered volume (21 cm x 14 cm) which was ink-stamped on the inside cover ‘Catholic Boys’ Brigade, Church Street, Dublin’.
Annual reports of the Catholic Boys’ Brigade, Dublin. The reports mainly refer to the history and work of the organisation, the numbers of enrolments and to the on-going need for subscriptions from benefactors. The annual report for the year ending 1899 noted that ‘with regret we have had to refuse situations to well-deserving members, who through poverty or neglect, never enjoyed the advantage of being taught their letters. This terrible drawback … set us thinking as to how we might devise a plan, which would enable us to do something for these poor illiterate lads, and afford them an opportunity of at least a sound rudimentary education. It was with great therefore, that we saw our long-cherished wishes realised on the 10th October when we were able to open a much-needed "Night School" in connection with the Catholic Boys’ Brigade’.
A series of eight photographic prints of boys probably initiated into the Catholic Boys’ Brigade on Church Street in Dublin. The prints were found in an annotated envelope: ‘Mr. Peter Tierney’s Photos’. Tierney was an early organiser of the Boys’ Brigade. All the boys are barefoot and are dressed in worn rags and torn clothing. Two of the prints depict a pair of boys, possibly brothers. One of these prints is annotated on the reverse: ‘two recruits’. Two of the prints were produced by W.F. O’Connor, 1 Wellington Quay, corner of Parliament Street, Dublin.
Letters mainly from patrons forwarding subscriptions in favour of the Brigade. The file includes letters from Richard O’Shaughnessy, barrister, 3 Wilton Place, Dublin, to Fr. Mark McDonnell OSFC, Church Street, passing on his good wishes to the Boys’ Brigade. He claims that ‘the richer Catholics, and a large, a very large number of Protestants would be among its subscribers … if they only know the work it is effecting’.
Notices of meetings of the Catholic Boys’ Brigade Committee, Church Street. The file includes invitations requesting attendance at annual meetings which were held in the Brigade Hall, Church Street. The notices and resolutions are mainly signed by James J. Darragh, Honorary Secretary, and refer to routine administrative matters including the election of officers, expenditure and accounts, the arrangement of rooms and premises, the repair of the Hall, and various rules and constitutional matters. The file also includes the correspondence of Fr. Fiacre Brophy OSFC and James J. Darragh regarding a dispute within the committee regarding an amendment to rule 10 of the constitution which noted that the ‘Brigade shall be governed by the President assisted by a Capuchin Father as Vice President who shall be appointed by the President. … The President alone shall have authority in spiritual matters – the lay members being responsible for the financial affairs’.
