James A. Healy collection of Irish-related printed materials
Overview
Newspaper clippings, article reprints, photocopies of signed letters, newsletters, and other printed material and ephemera gathered by James Healy (1890-1975) regarding Irish literature, culture, and history of the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Dates
- Creation: approximately 1895-1960s (bulk 1960s)
Creator
- Healy, James A., 1890-1975 (Compiler, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
No access restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Spencer Library staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.
Biography of James Augustine Healy (1890-1975)
James A. Healy was the son of Irish immigrants John and Catherine Deane Healy, born in Portland, Maine, in 1890. The family moved to New York when he was 12 years old, and within a couple years of their move to the city, he was employed as a page boy on the New York Stock Exchange.
Healy became the youngest telephone clerk on the Exchange floor, eventually becoming a wealthy and influential stockbroker. During World War I, when the Stock Exchange was closed, he was secretary to the Director of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, in which position he became friends with "Buckskin Joe" Cullinan and future U.S. President Herbert Hoover.
Personally, Healy collected widely in Irish literature, and by the late 1940s he began donating Irish printed materials to several institutions across the United States, starting with Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
[Information retrieved from Shrestha, Jui, "James Augustine Healy," Colby College Libraries LibGuides, accessed May 2023.]
Extent
.25 Linear Feet (1 document case + 1 oversize box, 2 oversize folders)
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents
Much of the collection is copies and originals of newspaper clippings or magazine articles removed from the complete newspaper or magazine. There are also article reprints, newsletter bulletins, photocopies of letters and manuscripts, and other ephemera related to Irish literary figures and culture and Irish-American history and relationships between the two countries. Individuals who are the subject or author of the clippings include William Butler Yeats, AE (or George William Russell), John Millington Synge, Lady Gregory, Thomas MacDonagh, John F. Kennedy, and the Abbey Theatre, among other individuals and organizations. There are also several newspapers related to the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
Materials mostly remain in the order found when Healy sent items to the Spencer Research Library. Some items, such as clippings related to W.B. Yeats, were removed from general folders regarding Irish literature to be co-located with the Yeats-specific items. Oversize items have been physically separated to aid in their preservation.
Physical Location
MS 380
Physical Location
MS Qa49
Physical Location
MS R31
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts, James Healy, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1971.
Subject
- Title
- Guide to the James A. Healy Collection
- Subtitle
- James A. Healy collection of Irish-related printed materials
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by mwh. Finding aid encoded by mwh.
- Date
- 2023-05
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Finding aid written in English.
- Finding aid permalink
- https://hdl.handle.net/10407/9832351383
- Preferred citation
-
James A. Healy collection of Irish-related printed materials, MS 380, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas
Repository Details
Part of the University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library Repository