Seamus Fitzgerald Descriptive List (Ref. PR6)

Cork. Again Fitzgerald appears to have ironed out the situation, but Masqueik left bemoaning the attitude of company bosses who would not take his advice on steel production. Contemporary newsclippings collected by Fitzgerald refer to the activities of Irish Steel and some Union troubles. The final subsection in Section 4 contains brief records of Fitzgerald's investment in Foilseachain Naisunta Teoranta and the Southern Star newspaper. Section 5, Interests and Patronage, reflects Fitzgerald's interests outside the business world and also his generosity in giving of his support financially and otherwise to charitable organisations. He was involved in establishing the company Gaedhealachas Teoranta; a limited company set up to build and invest in Irish language schools and was also a lifelong member of Conradh na Gaeilge. He was also involved in supporting and organising the yearly Tostal festival in Cork. His presidency of the Cork Orchestral society proved unharmonious when in that capacity he welcomed to his home the Fine Gael Taoiseach John A. Costello. He was accused by members of local F.F. Cumainn of turning his back on the Party and letters both supporting and denouncing him were sent to Eamonn de Valera. Also preserved are a large number of the correspondence relating to circulars and requests for support sent by charitable and voluntary organisations to Fitzgerald together with his copy replies. Section 6, Personal and Family Life, contains mementoes, correspondence and appointment diaries belonging to Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was apprenticed in HM Dockyards Haulbowline and references and other documentation from that period is contained here. He was suspended in 1916 as a result of his arrest for Volunteer activities, but was reinstated. Preserved in Subsection B are groups of general correspondence between Fitzgerald and friends and family members. Subsection C Family Memorabilia contains items such as Birth Certificates, the marriage certificate of Seamus and May Fitzgerald. Here also are a series of appointment diaries kept by Fitzgerald which contain notes of meetings and travel plans, but do not contain all such appointments Fitzgerald would have been presumed to have. The papers of Seamus Fitzgerald are unique in that he straddled so may spheres, cultural, political revolutionary and commercial. As they do not provide a full record of the various bodies and projects, but rather the surviving record of Fitzgerald's involvement with them. He was a man of seemingly endless energy and motivation with a strong sense of fair play. His brand of nationalism was first and foremost a practical one and his legacy was to help establish Cork as an area capable of handling industrial development and to have assisted in the development of perhaps the most formidable political organisation in Ireland. Researchers interested in the evolution of the Irish state particularly with regard to industry and the organisation and development of Fianna Fáil should find the Seamus Fitzgerald collection invaluable. Arrangement

Main sections of the Collection: SECTION 1: EARLY POLITICAL AFFILIATION A

IRISH VOLUNTEERS- CONTEMPORARY MATERIAL

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