Museum of Newport Irish History | Newport, Rhode Island

John F. Quinn, Ph.D., "The Rise of Catholicism in Newport, 1880-1950" (an "encore” presentation hosted by Cluny School, 75 Brenton Road, Newport)
2009-03-09 18:00 UTC
In 1800 there were scarcely any Catholics in Newport, but by the mid-19th Century their numbers had risen dramatically, driven by immigration from Ireland. By 1880, the city’s one Catholic parish had grown so large that it had to be divided. Over the next seven decades, the Catholic Church continued to expand its presence in Newport, with the establishment of two more parishes, several convents, four elementary schools, an orphanage, two rest homes, a retreat house and a college. Many of these establishments were housed in what had once been the mansions of the city’s summer colonists. By 1950, Catholicism had become a dominant force in the city by the Sea.

Denny Lynch, Photographer, MS, BS, "The Battle of Baltimore, September 1814"
2009-03-03 18:00
Photographer and Baltimore native, Denny Lynch will share his fascinating slide illustrated talk about the Battle of Baltimore. It was in September of 1814 that American soldiers stood up once more to one of Europe’s great military powers. Many of these soldiers were Irish. With his photographic images, Denny will highlight the main events and sites that are associated with this decisive engagement. Join Museum members and friends for this visual tour of the battle that inspired the writing of the “Star-Spangled Banner”.
DENNY LYNCH has travelled extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East and Central America and has recorded his many travels with wonderful and engaging photographs. His work has been exhibited for many years both here and in Europe, with examples part of the permanent collections of the City of New York and the New York Historical Society. A frequent visitor to Ireland, much of Denny’s work has been focused on Irish history and culture, and has been exhibited in County Cavan, County Monagan and County Kerry’s Heritage Center. Denny received his BS in History and MS in Education from Towson University in Maryland, and he taught history in the Baltimore schools for over 30 years before retiring recently to focus on his photography. This is his third lecture for the Museum of Newport Irish History.

William J. Matthews, Ph.D., "The Irish Famine (An Gorta Mor) 1845-1849"
2009-02-19 18:00
The great Irish famine was a horrific period in Irish history of incredible calamity, suffering, and death. The proximal cause of this disaster was the Irish dependence on the potato crop and, of course, the subsequent blight. However, the ensuing disaster caused by the loss of the potato crop was exacerbated by political, economic, and social factors which remain part of the debate today. In this talk, Professor Matthews will explore the famine in the context of British responsibility and the famine’s subsequent connection to Irish nationalism.
WILLIAM J. MATTHEWS received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut and has been a professor with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for the last 28 years. Dr. Matthews holds dual American/Irish citizenship and has studied many areas of Irish history, including the Irish Uprising and Civil War. Dr. Matthews gave a beautifully illustrated lecture entitled “The Life and Times of Michael Collins an Irish Patriot” for the Museum’s 2007-08 lecture series. We welcome Dr. Matthews back for this, his third speaking engagement with the Museum.

. Charles Artaud Byrne, MS, Lt.-Col. U.S. AF (retired), "Ranelagh: The Irish Warlord" (Tate Publishing Company, 2008)
2008-11-06 18:00
Byrne brings one of Ireland’s ancient and respected families to vivid life. His epic of the O’Byrne family begins in 16th Century County Wicklow, as they struggle to counter English aggression and maintain their landholdings. The story continues through their emigration to America in 1818, settling in Catholic Baltimore, with insights into what is to follow for future generations.
CHARLES ARTAUD BYRNE, a West Point graduate, served 28 years in the Air Force, including combat missions in Korea. He is the recipient of The Distinguished Flying Cross and is a former instructor at the Navy War College, Newport. Upon his retirement from the military, he settled in Newport and became an avid sailor. Mr. Byrne is a past Secretary of the American Sail Training Association in Newport, and was Treasurer of Seaport ’76 Foundation, in support of the replica of R.I.’s first warship, The Providence. When sailing, he favors clipper ships on the high seas, and has crossed the Atlantic four times. In 2007 he travelled around the world, a journey which included 37 days on a 4-masted clipper ship. The proud father of a daughter and two sons, he now concentrates on research and writing.
Byrne has written a sequel to Ranelagh, titled Tomorrow’s Skies, with another, Tomorrow’s Star in process. This is Mr. Byrne’s first speaking engagement with the Museum. Copies of Ranelagh will be available for purchase and author’s signature.

Scott Molloy, Ph.D., "Irish Titan, Irish Toilers: Joseph Banigan and Nineteenth-Century New England Labor" (University Press of New England, July 2008)
2008-10-14 18:00
In his book Molloy explores the life of Joseph Banigan (1839-1898), one of America’s most successful 19th Century industrialists, who became New England’s first Catholic millionaire. Banigan was an Irish Potato Famine refugee from County Monaghan, in Ulster, who established himself in Rhode Island and became a titan of the rubber industry; Banigan become president of the U.S. Rubber Company in 1893. Banigan accomplished this during a period of widespread anti-Irish-Catholic prejudice, also explored in Molloy’s book.
SCOTT MOLLOY is an award-winning Professor at the Schmidt Labor Research Center, University of Rhode Island. He previously drove a bus, was a union activist, and was Chief of Staff to a United States Congresswoman. A prolific writer, Molloy also wrote, Trolley Wars: Streetcar Workers on the Line (University of New Hampshire, 2007). This is Dr. Molloy’s second speaking engagement with the Museum.

Dr. Brian Trainor, Ulster Historical Foundation, "Emigration from Ulster to North America in the 18th Century"
2008-03-10 18:00

Nancy Lusignan Schultz, Ph.D., "Mass Mailings: The Irish and American Miracles of Prince Alexander Hohenlohe, 1823-24", (published Mar. 2011 as "Mrs. Mattingly's Miracle: The Prince, the Widow, and the Cure that Shocked Washington City", Yale Univ. Press)
2008-01-17 18:00

Alen MacWeeney, Photographer, Author, "Irish Travelers, Tinkers No More" (New England College Press, 2007)
2007-11-29 18:00
Alen MacWeeney was born in Dublin in 1939 and came to the U.S. at age 21 to become assistant to the renowned photographer Richard Avedon. He soon established himself as a contributor to such publications as The New Yorker, Life, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y. McWeeney has produced seven books, among them Bloomsbury Reflections, Irish Stone Walls, and Fabled Landscapes. He co-directed a feature-length documentary, “Travelers”, based on his book, which was broadcast by RTE and the BBC. Mr. MacWeeney will discuss his new book, Irish Travelers (2007, New England College Press), and show his 40-minute documentary. Copies of his book will be available for signature.

William J. Matthews, Ph.D., "The Life and Times of Michael Collins"
2007-11-08 18:00

Denny Lynch, photographer, "Returning to Kerry: Photographic sojourn in and around Kerry.”
2007-02-28 18:00
A frequent visitor to Ireland, Denny Lynch has recorded his travels with wonderful and engaging photographs. He received his BS in History and MS in Education from Towson University in Maryland and has taught history in the Baltimore schools for over 30 years. His work has been exhibited in Paris, Manhattan and Ireland (County Kerry). This is his second lecture for the Museum of Newport Irish History. His Feb. 28 talk is entitled: Returning to Kerry: Photographic sojourn in and around Kerry.

Nancy Lusignan Schultz, Ph.D., "McGowan's Tavern, Paddy Funerals, and Rossiter's Dog: Irish Factors in the 1834 Attack on the Charlestown, Mass. Convent"
2006-11-30 18:00
Nancy Lusignan Schultz is professor and coordinator of Graduate Programs in English and America Studies at Salem State College, Salem, Mass. She has completed fellowships at Harvard University and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is co-editor of: Salem: Place, Myth and Memory (Northeastern U. Press, 2005). Professor Lusignan Schultz is also the author of Fire and Roses: The Burning of the Charlestown Convent, 1834 (Northeastern U. Press, 2002). Her November 30 talk is titled: McGowan’s Tavern, Paddy Funerals, and Rossiter’s Dog: Irish Factors in the 1834 Attack on the Charlestown, Mass. Convent Prof. Schultz will focus on Irish Factors in the 1834 torching of the Ursuline Convent. Even today in South Boston, the attack lives so strongly in the imaginations of Irish American residents that many believe it happened only a generation ago.

Professor William Matthews, PhD, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "Green Against Green: The Tragic Irish Civil War".
2006-11-02 18:00

Maureen Lapan, Ph.D., founding member and officer of the International Berkeley Society, "Images of Berkeley in Newport: 1729-1732"
2006-04-20 18:00

J. Stephen Grimes, Director of Archives and Records Management for the R.I. Supreme Court, "From Bricklayer to Bricklayer; The Rhode Island Roots of Congressman John E. Fogarty's Irish-American Nationalism"
2006-02-09 18:00

Paul O'Malley, Ph.D., "Ireland and the Spanish Civil War: A Foreign Policy Racy of Irish Soil"
2005-12-01 18:00
The term “Racy” has been used in the past as a way of commending the organization or policy as exhibiting the excellence of the Irish race, according to Dr. O’Malley.

William Matthews, Ph.D., The Irish Rising of 1916 and how it led to the 1919-21 insurrection against Britain.
2005-10-20 18:00

Fr. Robert Hayman, "Irish immigrants in Rhode Island prior to 1860, with a special look at the Newport area".
2004-11-18 18:00
Fr. Robert Hayman, Historian for the Diocese of Providence. Fr. Hayman’s talk focused on the “Irish immigrants in Rhode Island prior to 1860, with a special look at the Newport area”.
He referred to the memoirs of Bishop Fenwick of Boston who noted that in 1827 there were about 150 Irish men working at Ft. Adams, and some 35 working in the Portsmouth coal mines.
He also referenced the baptismal records of children born to parents working at Ft. Adams in the late 1820s and the obituary of James Cottrell who came to Newport from Ireland to work on the Fort in 1828.

Dr. Lawrence Arnold of Dublin, the author of numerous articles dealing with seventeenth century Irish History, and author of The Restoration Land Settlement in County Dublin 1660-1668, spoke about the events in Irish history leading up to the Cromwellian war and the settlement following that war.
2004-10-13 18:00

Denny Lynch, Photographer
2004-03-26 18:00

Evelyn Sterne, Ph.D. - "Irish in Politics and the Catholic Church"
2004-02-05 18:00

Charles Duff, Ph.D. - "Edwin O'Connor's Boston"
2003-12-02 18:00

Seamus Connolly, Boston College - "An Evening of Irish Traditional music, different languages and stories"
2003-10-23 18:00

Inaugural talk by Dr. John Quinn, PhD, an associate professor of history at Salve Regina University on his newly published book "Father Mathew's Crusade - Temperance in Nineteenth Century Ireland and Irish America"
2002-10-24 18:00
