The file comprises an undated note from Francis Wendell Butler-Thwing titled ‘Impressions of Russia’ enclosing twenty-three photographs of everyday life in the Soviet Union. Manuscript annotations are extant on the reverse of many of the prints. There is some uncertainty over both the provenance and dates of these photographs although it seems likely they were taken in the late 1940s. Francis Wendell Butler-Thwing (1891-1964) was a former British Army officer and a First World War veteran. He was a captain in the Coldstream Guards from 1917 to 1921 and was later a published poet and author. In 1918 he married Lady Gertrude Minna Kerr, an English aristocrat (she was a niece of Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk). The circumstances of how Butler-Thwing was able to take (or obtain) these photographs of life in the Soviet Union is unclear, but he may have sent them to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. with a view to their potential publication in ‘The Capuchin Annual’.
An image titled ‘Steet scene / Moscow’.
An image titled ‘Children at home for shelterless / Kiev’.
An image titled ‘The daughter of the hotel manager at Stalingrad’.
An image of a group of villagers possibly in the Tambov area in Russia.
The file comprises copies of an interview with Daniel Mannix, Archbishop of Melbourne. The title heading reads ‘The following document, in the handwriting of Father Welch, now a Novine in the Capuchin Friary Novitiate, Kilkenny, … given to V. Rev. Fr. Sylvester [Mulligan], Minister Provincial, and by him deposited in the Provincial Archives, Dublin, in April 1926’. The document refers to the ‘high terms’ in which Archbishop Mannix spoke of both Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. and Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. The file also includes a photographic print of Archbishop Mannix and other bishops.
A typescript copy of an article titled ‘The position of Catholics in the “Six Counties” with special reference to Derry’. The text likely relates to the ‘Orange Terror’ article by 'Ultach' (J.J. Campbel) published in ‘The Capuchin Annual’ (1943).
A typescript biography of the Irish republican Liam Mellows. The text is titled ‘Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution’. The document chronicles his life from his early years through to his involvement with the Irish Volunteers during the revolutionary period. With a covering envelope addressed to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap.
Original copies of the ‘Irish Bulletin’, a republican newssheet from 1921. The ‘Irish Bulletin’ was the official daily gazette of the government of the Irish Republic. The first edition of the 'Bulletin' appeared on 11 Nov. 1919 shortly after the suppression of the entire republican press. The purpose of the 'Bulletin' was succinctly stated in the edition of 11 Nov. 1920 (Vol. 6 No. 17). ‘When it became certain that the majority party in Ireland was not to be proclaimed “illegal” the “Bulletin” had of necessity to be published secretly. It was designed to circulate principally not in Ireland but among the publicists in England and on the Continent. At its inception less than fifty copies were printed. To-day it reaches almost every country in the world and is reprinted in four European languages. It is received by the press, public men, and the leading political and other organisations of many nations’.
The 'Bulletin' was published daily but weekly editions containing summaries of ‘acts of aggression committed in Ireland by the military and police of the usurping English government’ were also routinely circulated. These weekly summaries were not assigned volume or issue numbers. Daily issues consisted mainly of sometimes detailed lists of raids by British security forces and the arrests of republican suspects. Extracts from foreign publications and sometimes sympathetic English sources were also published in the 'Bulletin'. Accounts of the activities of Dáil Courts were likewise included. It was produced by the republican publicity department during the War of Independence, and its offices were located at 6 Harcourt Street, Dublin. On 26 Mar. 1921, after sixteen months of publication, the offices of the 'Bulletin' were raided. Later, forged issues of the journal were produced with printing machinery and paper captured in the offices. These fabricated issues were sent to all the usual addresses on the list of recipients, a copy of which had also been seized. Issues of these forged 'Bulletins' were subsequently circulated for over a month.
The paper’s first editor was Desmond Fitzgerald, until his arrest and replacement by Robert Erskine Childers. The collection includes a chronological record of peace overtures which would eventually lead to the Treaty negotiations. The issue of 7 Dec. 1921 (Vol. 6, No. 35) carried an ‘advance copy’ of the articles of agreement between Great Britain and Ireland, more commonly known as ‘The Treaty’. Many of the issues of the 'Irish Bulletin' are stamped ‘Official Copy’. The file also includes a covering note which reads ‘Weekly Reports / Issued from Headquarters’.
A ‘Daily Sheet’ produced by Sinn Féin (No. 22, 19 November 1923). The text outlines the plight of republican prisoners who have resorted to hunger-striking while being detained by the Free State authorities. Includes a piece by Mary MacSwiney, the sister of Terence MacSwiney.