Divided back, unused postcard. “Carta Puist.” Circa 1911. Printed by Malcolm & Hayes, New York. Publisher:  The Gaelic League. Photo by Anna Frances Levins. Number or series 30249.

Availability status:  SOLD  (High resolution digital image sold and to be included in book soon to be published).

“Brigit O’Quinn, Banada, Co. Sligo. 15th Century Irish Costume.”

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Cardcow has this postcard showing a postmark year 1911. Ha, this is crazy (great) as the sender on the Cardcow card has written,  “This is one of the three colleens that have been staying with us…”   (For some reason I was thinking that maybe Brigit O’Quinn was a figure in Irish history and the photo represented her, so to speak. Must of been the beautiful traditional outfit or maybe the hairstyle.) And, normally, we’re researching photos of people that were born elsewhere and emigrated to the U.S., so this one is like a flip, sort of, born and lives elsewhere, visiting the States. Nice! Anyway, Cardcow’s card was postmarked from Butte, Montana. And so, we find a newspaper article online that appeared in the Anaconda Standard, (Anaconda, Montana) July 12, 1911:   “Miss Brigit O’Quinn, accompanied by Miss Noone, gave an Irish jig in a manner that kept the audience applauding for several minutes at its completion.”

More to follow shortly on this post, as I’m out of time this morning…..

The next day….Here’s the clipping mentioned above and several more, showing that the three colleens, the Misses Bridie MacLoughlin, Eileen Noone and Brigit O’Quinn were on tour, visiting, among other places, Montana, Yellowstone National Park, Oregon and Kansas.

The trio, in the company of the Reverend Michael O’Flanagan and Fionian MacColum (The Gaelic League’s American envoys mentioned in the second clip above) returned home via Liverpool, England, on the passenger ship Adriatic, leaving New York and arriving in Liverpool August 2, 1912. The ladies’ estimated ages per the ship list are:  Bridie, age 30; Bridget, age 35 and Eileen, age 27. Below, a crop from the passenger list.

Sources:  “Miss Noone, Pianist.”  The Anaconda Standard. (Anaconda, Montana) 12 Jul 1911, Wed, p. 5. (Newspapers.com)

“Exhibit of Irish Industries Opens Tomorrow Morning.” The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon). 21 Aug 1911, Mon. p. 16. (Newspapers.com)

“Gaelic League’s Exhibit Irish Industries.” (photo of Eileen Noone) The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon). 21 Aug 1911, Mon. p. 16. (Newspapers.com)

“The Irish Industries Exhibit.” (photo of Brigit McQuinn). The Wichita Beacon (Wichita, Kansas) 26 Jun 1912, Wed. p. 3. (Newspapers.com)

The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists.; Class: BT26; Piece: 528; Item: 12. (Ancestry.com)