Irish folklore often recalls an ancient past. However, in this episode Fin and Damian explore how America and the experiences of Irish emigrants had already become part of folklore by the early twentieth century. Set down almost 100 years ago, among the stories you will hear tales of ghosts that reflect a sense of loss and remembrance of emigrants, examples of how returned emigrants were sometimes seen as "other", and even find out about how Irish children had already become fascinated by the American West and Native Americans.

Folklore Archive www.duchas.ie

Seymour, S. True Irish ghost stories https://archive.org/details/trueirishghostst0000seym_s6t9

Tait, C Spectres Across the Atlantic, c.1820-1940: Communicating with the Dead Over Space and Time https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14780038.2023.2258606

Interview with Clodagh Tait acast.com/irishhistory/episodes/a-history-of-the-supernatural-in-ireland&ved=2ahUKEwjOxZbyoLCSAxWRW0EAHeZIC9sQFnoECDcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3kmEFkBqKv1hnVAg6DtN7B

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The American Civil War was a defining moment for Irish Americans in the 1860s. Over 250,000 Irish Americans many of them Famine emigrants served in the Union army. Over the course of the war they played a key role in the defeat of the Confederacy.

However their service has been dogged by stereotypes and myth for more than 160 years.

In this episode Damian discusses his latest research published in his 2025 book Green and Blue. Fin and Damian explore the book that brings new perspectives to our understanding of the war. They examine the immense Irish contribution to the Union cause and what their experiences of the conflict were really like. They also address the darker aspects of Irish involvement. Damian explains how and why Irish attitudes to emancipation and racism were not what we might expect from a community that served the Union in such overwhelming numbers.

Damian’s book “Green and Blue Irish Americans in the Union Military, 1861–1865” is a must read for anyone interested in the civil war of Irish America more broadly

Get your copy https://www.amazon.com/Green-Blue-Americans-Conflicting-Dimensions/dp/0807183709

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How did Catholicism develop on America's West Coast during the 19th and 20th centuries, and how did it differ from the experience in the major Eastern cities? What role did Irish Americans Catholics, both women and men, play in the pioneering years of the Golden State's gold rush and the development of California's state capital over the century that followed? These are just some of the questions we explore in our latest episode of Transatlantic: An Irish American History Podcast, taking as our lens the Irish men and women who helped to build, develop and sustain the city of Sacramento.

We are joined to discuss this by leading historian of Catholicism in America Father Steven Avella, formerly Professor of History at Marquette University in Wisconsin. Father Avella has written a number of volumes on the history of Sacramento and Catholicism in the city, including Sacramento: Indomitable City, Sacramento and the Catholic Church: Shaping a Catholic CIty and Indomitable Sacramentans: A Social History of Catholics in the State Capital.

Father Steven M. Avella Books

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