Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1853-1990 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
60pp
Context area
Archival history
Transcripts created from Mitchell, James (1853). A Journal Kept by Jas. J. Mitchell, Commenced on leaving Ahascragh, Co. Galway, Ireland, For the United States of America, March 16, 1853.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Materials pertaining to the 1853 journal of James J. Mitchell. Professor Kerby A. Miller writes: 'Mitchell's home is in east Co. Galway, which is very representative of emigration in this period, as is his Catholicism. We have no data concerning his parents' occupation, although internal evidence suggests bourgeois status and a high level of literacy in English, both of which are very un-representative. No information on local social conditions (save by reference to evictions; see below), and no mention of the Irish language. The reference to the recent Famine is fleeting. [...] Mitchell's account covers most of the stages of the process of emigration, from departure to arrival, except for the crucial (and un-romantic) questions of causation, motivation, finance (who paid for the passages?), and prospective occupations in America.' The series contains typed transcripts of the original manuscript, along with Miller's research correspondence and notes, and census research.