Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1942-1993 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
16pp
Context area
Archival history
Kerby A. Miller created his transcript from the original manuscript published as Kelly, A. (1942). 'I Went to America', The Bell 3, pp. 353-356.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Materials pertaining to an anonymous memoir recorded by Anna Kelly and published in The Bell in 1942. This Irish woman emigrated in 1882 out of Derry to New York city, returning in 1889. Per Kerby A. Miller: 'Family perhaps in Co. Cavan, the home county of Anna Kelly [journalist], who "took down" the memoir from her anonymous informant. However, [Kelly] mentions that she was "good at" English, so that may indicate she was a native Irish-speaker [...] Probably an oral history, recorded and/or transcribed by Kelly. Excellent on family/chain migration, and its potentially exploitative features by both the emigrants' sending and receiving relatives: the former demand remittances, and the latter exploit cheap, captive labor. Also excellent on the journey and voyage to America, and on the experience in quarantine at Castle Garden in New York.' The series contains: Miller's typed transcript of the memoir; notes about Anna Kelly compiled by Lawrence William White; a photocopy of the published memoir; and Miller's research notes.