Between 1921 and 1965 Irish and Scottish migrants continued to seek new homes abroad. Using the personal accounts of these migrants from letters, interviews, questionnaires, and shipboard journals, together with more traditional documentary sources such as immigration files and maritime records, this book examines the experience of migration and settlement in North America and Australasia.
Through a close reading of personal testimonies the author highlights the assorted similarities and differences between the Irish and Scots. Subtle differences rather than yawning cultural gaps are apparent; similarities in attitude and expectation are more common than divergent or unique experiences. The key revelation of the work is that, despite a number of peculiarities characterising their individual and collective experiences of migration, both the Irish and Scots were relatively successful migrants in the period under consideration.
Using interviews, both spoken and written, and tackling issues of why and how versions of the past are represented and what they mean, this fascinating study considers individual and collective memory and the use of personal testimonies as historical evidence: their uniqueness and typicality. Furthermore, in using personal narratives the book portrays individual migration experiences which are often hidden in studies based on statistical analysis.
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General
Modern
Great Britain
History
20th Century
Ireland
Europe
Personal narratives of Irish and Scottish migration, 1921–65: ‘For spirit and adventure’ 1
Half Title Page 2
Title Page 4
Cpyright 5
Contents 6
List of figures 7
Acknowledgements 8
List of abbreviations 11
Editorial notes 12
Introduction 14
1 Historiography and context 28
2 ‘I’ll go and fi nd some sunshine’: considering going 48
3 ‘A tearful goodbye’: organising the move 77
4 ‘Nothing but water’: getting there 98
5 ‘The land of opportunity’: Ellis Island and New York 121
6 ‘It just isn’t home’: entering the British World 144
7 ‘A crony of my own type’: personal and group networks 167
8 ‘Jigs and reels and hornpipes’: identity, culture, and belonging 192
9 ‘The savage loves his native shore’: going home 213
Conclusion 235
Appendices 240
Bibliography 245
Index 260

upload/motw_shc_2025_10/shc/Personal Narratives of Irish an - Angela McCarthy.pdf

motw/Personal Narratives of Irish an - Angela McCarthy.pdf

McCarthy, Angela

Palgrave Macmillan

Chetham Society

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Reprint, PS, 2012

2013

2007

producers:
Acrobat Distiller 10.1.4 (Windows)

Memory of the World Librarian: Calamitous Annunciation

Drawing predominantly on personal narratives, this book compares Irish and Scottish migration to North America and Australasia between 1921 and 1965. -- .

2025-10-27