This collection contains research notes and research material generated and collected by Grace O’Malley Cantillon while preparing her book on family history titled The Round House O’Malleys: The Power of One Woman! (2014). The collection encompasses a range of primary manuscript material sourced by the author, including letters from her uncle Thomas O’Malley to his mother and sisters while trying to carve out a life for himself in Australia between 1910 and 1914 (P83/1/6/3/2-11). Another interesting compilation of primary material (degree certificates, apprenticeship agreements, personal correspondence and memoirs) relates to Grace O’Malley Cantillon’s father, Charles Vincent O’Malley, who operated a successful dental practice in Limerick city in the first half of the twentieth century (see P83/1/6/7/1/1-P83/1/6/7/5/6). Also worth noting are the memoirs of Frank O’Malley describing his life as a rubber planter in early twentieth-century Malaya (P83/1/6/6/3-5). In addition, there is an extensive photographic component extending back to the 1880s. The primary material in this collection provides useful insights into Ireland as part of the British empire and the blossoming of the prosperous Irish Roman Catholic professional class following Irish independence.
