Cleveland Achill Twinning at IACES Irish American Club East Side October 29, 2023
In 2003 the city of Cleveland Ohio USA was twinned with Achill Island in County Mayo Ireland. A delegation from Cleveland travelled to Achill Island in September 2023 and a group from Achill Parish and County Mayo visited Cleveland in late October 2023 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the agreement. There were many events to celebrate the occasion.
On October 29, 2023 at the Irish American Club East Side in Cleveland many members from the visiting delegation spoke about Irish genealogy, the Michael Davitt Museum in County Mayo and the Pat Chambers Civil War Collection.
At this event the lighting and sound were pretty bad for the videos so I apologize in advance.
Maggie Spellman, President of the Padraic Pearse Center at the club introduced Margaret Lynch from the Irish American Archives Society.
Margaret Lynch
She introduced Yvonne Corcoran-Loftus, Curator of the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide, County Mayo Ireland.
Yvonne Corcoran-Loftus
Next, Pat Chambers told about discovering the artifacts in a jar and what they mean to the understanding of the times and the people involved.
Pat Chambers
Some items from the Pat Chambers collection
Then Sophie Knox recited her poem titled Memory of Jim Moran.
Sophie Knox
Watch the video of the above.
Yvonne Corcoran-Loftus, Curator of the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide, County Mayo Ireland, introduced Sean Cadden who gave a presentation called "Who wrote the Letter?" which told about the letter that Pat Chambers found in a jar and what they mean to the understanding of the times and the people involved such as the Chambers, O'Grady, Sweeney and other families.
Sean Cadden
Patrick Chambers and Dolly Sweeney Family Tree
Mulchrone-Moran Family Tree
Historic UIS Meeting Attendance List
Professor Emeritus at the University of Portland and local historian Mick Mulchrone gave a presentation showing the contents of the letter that Pat Chambers found in a jar and what they mean to the understanding of the times and the people involved such as the Chambers, O'Grady, Sweeney and other families. He finished with a special song.
Michael Mulchrone
John Reid, Michael Davitt Museum Project Manager, acknowledged some of the people behind the exhibit and Museum.
John Reid
Pat Chambers presented IAAS Director Margaret Lynch with an item for the archives.
Margaret Lynch and Pat Chambers
Margaret Lynch
There was a final Q&A before the presentation ended.
In this special Fun with Maps episode about Achill Island we hear from John Reid and Yvonne Corcoran-Loftus about Michael Davitt and the Museum.
Enjoy these other photos from the presentation at the IACES.
John Reid, Yvonne Corcoran-Loftus and Pat Chambers
Viewing the Pat Chambers collection
Kenneth Deery and Michelle Morgan
Mickey McNally and Jim Kilbane
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