Part 1 - Papers of Patrick Pearse

A collection of papers relating to Patrick Pearse (1879-1916), a barrister, writer, and educationalist. He was born in Dublin on 10 November 1879, the elder son and the second of four children of James Pearse, a sculptor, and his second wife, Margaret. As a political revolutionary, Pearse rose to prominence as one of the key figures in the Easter Rising of 1916. He was chosen as the president of the republic which the rebels proclaimed during the insurrection. Pearse was executed in Kilmainham Jail on 3 May 1916. The collection comprises mostly personal papers including correspondence, legal records, writings, and some printed works. Much of the material relates to Scoil Éanna, the Gaelic school founded by Pearse in Dublin in 1908. Many of the letters in the collection relate to Pearse’s fundraising trip to the United States from March to June 1914. The purpose of this visit was to raise funds for Scoil Éanna and many of the letters are from potential donors and Irish Americans sympathetic to Pearse’s cultural nationalism. Other papers relate to the routine management of the school and to lesser extent Pearse’s involvement with the Irish Volunteers. From the latter perspective, a record and attendance book of the Irish Volunteers in Dublin covering the months leading up to 1916 Rising, is clearly a significant document in the collection. Other records refer to the precarious financial state of Scoil Éanna and to Pearse’s efforts to keep the school solvent. Some notes by Pearse on mainly education-related subjects are also extant in the collection. Several documents in the collection are either in Pearse’s hand or are endorsed with his signature.