Martin A. O’Brennan Papers, ca. 1843-1878

  • IdentificationMidwest MS O’Brennan
  • TitleInventory of the Martin A. O’Brennan Papers, ca. 1843-1878 Midwest.MS.O'Brennan
  • PublisherThe Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts
  • RepositoryThe Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts
  • Physical Description2.6 linear feet (3 boxes, 1 oversize box)
  • Dateca. 1843-1878
  • Location1 30 7; 1 37 1
  • AbstractPapers pertaining to Martin A. O’Brennan, an Irish nationalist activist, lawyer, newspaper editor, and amateur historian. The papers document O’Brennan’s Irish activities and his life in Chicago through correspondence and documents, manuscript copies of his speeches, printed pamphlets and copies of newspapers (both the Connaught Patriot and the Irish News), and ephemera-like advertisements, prospectuses, membership cards and printed lecture tickets.
  • OriginationO’Brennan, Martin A. (Martin Andrew)

Gift, Michael S. Gibbons, 2015.

The Martin A. O'Brennan Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

The Martin A. O’Brennan Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Martin A. O’Brennan Papers, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Elizabeth McKinley, 2015.

Irish nationalist, activist, lawyer, newspaper editor, and amateur historian.

Born in 1812 in County Mayo, Ireland, and educated at St. Jarlath’s College in Tuam, Martin A. O’Brennan came to Dublin around 1836, where he graduated from Trinity College. He quickly became active in the repeal and temperance movements, joined the Irish Tenant League, and preached Irish economic self-sufficiency, supporting the movement to expand flax cultivation. Interested in Irish history and language, he wrote Antiquities of Ancient Ireland (F 0242 .638) in 1858. That same year, O’Brennan returned to Tuam where he founded the Connaught Patriot and Tuam Advertiser, a Catholic, nationalist paper. O’Brennan was charged with sedition in1865, pled guilty, and was released, only to be rearrested in 1866. He left Ireland for London, where he started another newspaper, the Irish News, and published four issues before the paper was seized in April, 1867.

Leaving his wife and eight children behind, he then emigrated to the United States, and lived briefly in Providence, R.I., and Brooklyn, N.Y., before moving on to Chicago. Gradually the family was reunited, and O’Brennan eked out a living by lecturing, teaching the Irish language, and practicing law. He remained in contact with like-minded men, both in Ireland and in the émigré communities of Toronto and Melbourne, Australia. O’Brennan died in 1878, after fracturing his leg in an accident in Chicago.

Accounts and receipts, legal documents, correspondence, newspaper clippings, printed material and ephemeral items, and writings and speeches pertaining to or written by Martin A. O’Brennan. The bulk of material is comprised of correspondence addressed to O’Brennan.

Materials arranged alphabetically.

  • NamesO’Brennan, Martin A. (Martin Andrew)
  • Geographic Coverage
    • Chicago (Ill.)
    • Tuam (Ireland)
  • Subject
    • Irish newspapers
    • Journalism
    • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
    • Manuscripts, Irish
    • Nationalism -- Ireland