John T. Ridge Collection
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Abstract
John T. Ridge is a founding member and current president of the New York Irish History Roundtable. The son of Irish immigrants, Ridge is a Brooklyn-based historian whose work focuses on the influence of social events and organizations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, St. Patrick's Day parades, and Gaelic language clubs, with particular emphasis on the greater New York City area. Materials in this collection include books, booklets, buttons, ribbons, periodicals, ledgers, postcards, broadsides, photographs, advertisements, correspondence, event programs, sheet music, and newspaper and magazine clippings related to Irish and Irish American history in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. The majority of the collection documents fraternal and social Irish American organizations in the New York area, as well as numerous nationalist and republican organizations or initiatives.
Biographical Note
John T. Ridge is a founding member and current president of the New York Irish History Roundtable. The son of Irish immigrants, Ridge is a Brooklyn-based historian whose work focuses on the influence of social events and organizations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, St. Patrick's Day parades, and Gaelic language clubs, with particular emphasis on the greater New York City area. He has also led guided tours of immigration facilities and area cemeteries, and given lectures on various aspects of Irish and Irish American history. In addition to numerous essays and journal articles, Ridge also wrote the books The Flatbush Irish, Celebrating 250 Years of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade, Erin's Sons in America: The Ancient Order of Hibernians, and Sligo in New York: The Irish From County Sligo, 1849-1991.
Arrangement
Files are arranged into two series, thereunder alphabetically:
Series I. Social Organizations and Early Irish America
Series II. Patrick Mullin Irish People Materials
Scope and Contents Note
This is an intentionally assembled collection of materials related to Irish and Irish American history in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. Materials include books, booklets, buttons, ribbons, periodicals, ledgers, postcards, broadsides, photographs, advertisements, correspondence, event programs, sheet music, and newspaper and magazine clippings. The collection documents various fraternal and social Irish American organizations, with particular emphasis on the Ancient Order of Hibernians divisions located in the greater New York City area, including photographs, convention proceedings, and ledger books. Other materials document American expressions of Irish nationalism and republicanism, including those of the American Commission on Irish Independence, the American League for an Undivided Ireland, the Friends of Irish Freedom, Irish Northern Aid, and the Loyal National Repeal Association. Of note is an issue of John Mitchel's radical nationalist New York newspaper, The Citizen. While the majority of the collection is political in scope, some folders contain advertisements, documents, or photographs of Irish actors, commercial goods, or theatrical performances.
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Organizations
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Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by John Ridge, the creator of this collection, were transferred to New York University in 2013. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; John T. Ridge Collection; AIA 068; box number; folder number; Archives of Irish America, Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by John Ridge, 2012. The accession number associated with this gift is 2013.007.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Materials in this collection were retrieved as a hurricane salvage effort, resulting in varying degrees of water damage to all parts of the collection. Nearly all items have been flattened, dried, and cleaned, while those requiring attention have also been encapsulated and rehoused. Because of the state in which materials arrived at the archives and because the materials constitute an intentionally assembled collection, items were separated by format, size, and extent of damage. Panoramas were surface cleaned, humidified, flattened, and placed into mylar enclosures. Some tape was trimmed from the edges to reduce adhesive residue. Folder titles have been supplied by an archivist. Additional material, including bound volumes, scrapbooks, postcards, and assorted clippings and correspondence, required treatment for mold. These items were frozen by Preservation staff, cleaned once the mold was inactive, and have been integrated into the collection.