Dear Diane,
Re: lace-making--Rose Kelly Loughlin, who emigrated from Northern Ireland to the United States in 1925, was interviewed as part of the Ellis Island Oral History Project. She said that while she lived in Ireland, she and her widowed mother both embroidered to earn money. Rose recalled that "we had to take out so much [material to be embroidered] for the week, you know, of seven days, and finish it up and take it back in on, in our town it was Tuesday you went down to the market. So, . . .you took it down, and you took out some more. And that kept the house going. . . . .we used to take out dozens and dozens and dozens of handkerchiefs." (Rose Kelly Loughlin, interview by Janet Levine, 30 April 1995, Interview Ellis Island- 607, transcript, Ellis Island Collection, 12-13.) You might also want to take a look at the this article: Mary Coleman, "Irish Lace and Irish Crochet, " in Irish Women: Image and Achievement: Women in Irish culture from earliest times, ed. Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (Dublin: Arlen House, 1985).
Hope this helps,
All the best,
Margaret
Margaret Lynch-Brennan, Ph.D.
Associate
NY State Education Department
Office of Planning and Professional Development
Room 464 Education Building Addition
Albany, NY 12234
Phone: (518) 473-7155
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I am interested in resources about girls (ages 6 - 20) in Ireland
making lace to earn money to get families out of workhouses and/or
paying passage to emigrate. Girls making lace to help during famine?
Basic idea is young lacemakers as heroes. Photos, stories, documents.
More basic info about lacemaking in Ireland still welcomed, too.
Diane Swanson
Independent Scholar
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