Descriptive List of the Personal Archive of Diarmaid L. Fawsitt
PR81/1/5 Industrial Development and Trade (1920s-1930s)
Reference: PR81/1/5/A/03/039
Date:
24 September 1924
you bidding’, with ‘confirmation copy’ envelope addressed to Fawsitt; (iv) note initialled ‘R.E.’ dated 26 September stating enclosed handed to [him] at 4 o’clock adding ‘I trust the delay will have no serious effects’; (v) rough note [by Fawsitt] regarding contact with the Superintendent of Telegraphs in Dublin regarding confirmation of the telegram (dated 26 Sep).
Title: Level:
(Copy) letter from (Fawsitt) to Mrs H Kirby, c/o/ 390 Fourth Street, Brooklyn, New York
Extent: 1p
item
Scope and Content: (Copy) letter from (Fawsitt) to Mrs H Kirby, referring to his cable of today’s date and explaining the history and present position regarding bids for the sale of the New York Store, including the Committee’s objection to the planned sale to a bidder other than Mrs Slattery, and his own plans to partner with Mrs Slattery on a bid, ‘to save the premises from falling into the hands of outsiders’. He asks Kirby to discuss his plan with Mrs Slattery, and notes he will not bid without Slattery’s approval and goodwill. He hopes he does not have to ‘sell out this place’ [his home] to raise the cash needed.
Reference: PR81/1/5/A/03/043
Date:
8 October 1923
Title: Level:
(Copy) letter from (Fawsitt) to Mrs M Slattery
Extent: 1p
item
Scope and Content: (Copy) letter from (Fawsitt) to Slattery, acknowledging her cable informing him that she had increased her offer to twelve hundred [pounds] and that Fawsitt’s friends in America were against his buying the business. He explains that he has learned ‘largely by accident’ that the rival bidder is Mr J Connolly, ‘my successor in New York’. He adds ‘I am glad it is Mr C and not an utter stranger’ but expresses his sorrow that the Store has passed from Slattery’s hands.
Reference: PR81/1/5/A/03/040
Date:
24 September 1923
Title: Level:
(Copy) letter from (Fawsitt) to DJ McGrath, 1253 St Nicholas Avenue, New York City
Extent: 1p
item
Scope and Content: (Copy) letter from (Fawsitt) to McGrath, referring to his cable of this date, and stating that Mrs Slattery’s cable of today reads “Our (Fearon-Slattery) final offer one thousand does not prevent you bidding”. He adds that he has asked Mrs Kirby to talk with Mrs Slattery about bidding on his behalf. He explains that the Secretary, Gaelic League, has informed him that they cannot now accept a bid having accepted one locally from a unnamed party, but that they are prepared to consider a bid from Mrs Slattery. He notes he may be prepared to raise his bid, and hopes his will receive McGrath’s best consideration.
Reference: PR81/1/5/A/03/044
Date:
Undated [October 1923]
Title: Level:
Letter from MM Slattery to Fawsitt
Extent: 1p
item
Scope and Content: Letter from Slattery to Fawsitt, stating that she has spoken with Mrs Kirby and Dr Kelly and that both are very strongly against his purchasing the Store as ‘it would interfere with your standing and connection in New York’ and was ‘too insignificant’. They are sorry about his present predicament. She states that she has increased her offer to £12000, but notes business is at a standstill and expresses doubt the buyer will pay all cash. She complains that the Gaelic League expressed a grievance that she had not taken the store when first offered to her, but had already informed Athlone Woollen Mills it was sold it, leading to a serious delay in delivery of a shipment and higher duty payment.
Reference: PR81/1/5/A/03/041
Date:
24 September 1923
Title: Level:
(Copy) letter from Fawsitt to Mrs M Slattery
Extent: 1p
item
Scope and Content: (Copy) letter from Fawsitt to Slattery, acknowledging she must have been surprised by his telegam regarding the store and thanking her for signalling her willingness to his becoming a bidder. He explains ‘I am out of a job at the moment thanks to the Coholan-Crawford clique’. He explains why he has come to ask her to make a bid on his behalf, with reference to the bid accepted in Dublin by the Gaelic League, subject to peaceable possession, the Committee of Management’s objection, the ‘inadequate’ bid made by Fearon (Slattery’s assistant), and the League’s willingness to consider a new offer from Slattery. He hopes she will reconsider making a bid, based on Fawsitt’s offer, as outlined by Mrs Kirby and in the present letter.
Reference: PR81/1/5/A/03/045
Date:
20 October 1923
Title: Level:
Ms letter from Helen Kirby, 390 4th St, Brooklyn, New York, to Fawsitt
Extent: 8pp
item
Scope and Content: Letter from Mrs Kirby to Fawsitt, apologising for the long delay in writing to him, and explaining she finally met Mrs Slattery and Dr Kelly together to discuss the Store on the night before last. She states that ‘the Doctor ‘agreed about the rotten deal you got as she said we all knew no man in Ireland knew or understood as much about the economic trade and industrial work there as you’. She adds that all on the committee believe the Free State government is making ‘a dreadful mistake’ [in dismissing him]. They think it would be a ‘fatal mistake’ if the store changed hands at this point. She refers to the ‘changed conditions’ in America and in the Irish community, and thinks Fawsitt is ‘better off out of it’. She hopes ‘for the sake of Irish goods’ the Gaelic League will see they are making a mistake. She refers to a wedding (‘the flatbush wedding’) and asks after Fawsitt’s family.
Reference: PR81/1/5/A/03/042
Date:
24-26 September 1923
Title: Level:
Bundle relating to telegram from Slattery to Fawsitt
Extent: 5pp
item
Scope and Content: Small bundle consisting of (i) letter from Gerald Horan, Supreme Court, dated 26 September, enclosing telegram delivered to his home at St Peter’s, Ailesbury (intended for Fawsitt); (ii and iii) two copies of telegam, dated 24 September, from Slattery stating ‘Our final offer one thousand does not prevent
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