Dossier 1 - Research relating to Father Mathew

• Letters of Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. re James McKenna’s unpublished history of Fr. Mathew’s temperance movement. Fr. Nessan also refers to Fr. Mathew’s ancestry and genealogy and to work on his MA thesis. July 1939-Dec. 1939. Manuscript, 7 pp.
• Letters from J. Neiland, General Post Office, Waterford, to Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. enclosing ‘an old Police record of Father Mathew’s visits to Waterford’ in December 1839 and May 1840. 7 May 1937-28 Nov. 1938. Manuscript and typescript, 4 pp.
• Copybook containing notes by Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. on the history of temperance societies in Cork, Fr. Mathew’s role in organising the temperance movement, conditions for the poor in Ireland, and the onset of the famine. The notes appear to be derived from the surviving manuscripts of James McKenna, Fr. Mathew’s secretary. Manuscript, 44 pp.
• Copybook containing notes by Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. titled ‘Fr. Mathew – I. Franciscans / II. Spiritual life and priestly administration’. The notes refer to Fr. Mathew’s education, his spirituality, and the Capuchins in Ireland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Includes references and notes from the account book of the Capuchin Friary in Cork from 1821 to 1857. Manuscript, 52 pp.
• Notes by Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. referring to the completion of Holy Trinity (Father Mathew Memorial) Church, Cork. The notes read ‘In consultation with Mr. George C. Ashlin … a competition was organized amongst architects of repute for a design which would be suitable for the completion of the Church. From the many entries received that of Mr. D.J. Coakley of Cork city was accepted … [as] being possible with the limits of their financial resources – fixed at £6,000. Mr. John Sisk, the successful Cork builder, was declared the contractor’. The Church spire was finally completed on 4 Aug. 1891. Typescript, 6 pp.
• Letter to Fr. Nessan Shaw OFM Cap. from Jim O’Brien, 12 St. Ann’s Park, Turners’ Cross, Cork, referring to his father’s temperance medal and to his father’s role in the Father Mathew Players in Cork in 1918. Manuscript, 1 p. [c.1985].