Newport lecture on Civil War letters

A collection of letters relating to correspondence between people in Newport and Cleveland Ohio were the subject of a meeting of the Newport Historical Society in The Grainuaile, Newport recently. There was a tremendous attendance with people from Castlebar, Westport, Louisburgh, Newport and as far away as Straide and Attymass, and all of them thoroughly enjoyed an interesting and informative evening.

Pat Chambers from Newport found the jam jar of letters in the gable of his barn and was fascinated by the contents of the letters dating back to 1922 and 1923 during the tragic Civil War. He gave the letters to the Michael Davitt Museum and they set about conserving them under the guidance of the then curator Yvonne Corcoran Loftus. What emerged was the authentic people’s history of the Civil War in Newport and the American diaspora’s response and attitude to the Republican struggle against the forces of the Free State government. The Davitt Museum received a grant from the Heritage Council to conserve the letters and the barn was renovated also.

There were a number of speakers including Pat Chambers, who found the letters; Sean Caden, who gave a talk rich in family and social history which the audience could identify with; Mick Mulchrone spoke about the Civil War and sang a song about the subject of the John Chambers letter about the great Captain Jim Moran who was killed by the Free State Army in Glenhest on March 7th, 1923; Pat Chambers' niece, Sophy Knox, also recited a poem in honour of Captain Moran and these artistic interludes greatly added to the evening’s historical experience.

The final speakers came from the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide - they were the museum curator Deirdre McGuirk and John Reid, from Mayo North East, who thanked all who had assisted him in the work on the Chambers Collection project. Deirdre spoke about the conservation project and invited all present to come along to the Michael Davitt Museum and view the much-enhanced collection of documents.

Well done to the members of the Newport Historical Society for a truly enjoyable evening of poetry, song and story from a very impressive panel of speakers who took questions and comments from the floor after the presentations. There was much chat after the evening’s proceedings.