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The O’Mara Papers comprise predominantly business and personal records created and generated by Stephen O’Mara Junior (1884-1959) in the course of his life. Material relating to his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings is perfunctory.

The business records cover mainly correspondence in O’Mara’s capacity as director of O’Mara’s Bacon Company and later as director of the Bacon Company of Ireland and do not encompass all operational aspects of the business. However the material provides an interesting view of the bacon industry in early 20th-century Ireland and its gradual decline from the 1930s onwards.

The personal records cover O’Mara’s political career, including his three terms as Mayor of Limerick from 1921 to 1923; the second Bond Drive to the United States, his subsequent imprisonment in 1922-1923 and the ensuing court case of 1927; and his later political involvement, particularly his role as a founding director of The Irish Press. His personal correspondence is extensive and illustrates O’Mara’s prominent role in the family as a provider of employment opportunities for the younger generations and as a generous source of financial support in times of hardship. Other material of note includes extensive correspondence and architectural drawings relating to Strand House, New Strand House and Ivy Bank House, homes of the O’Mara family.

One of the most significant aspects of the collection is material relating to the O’Brien family of Boru House, particularly the private correspondence of the novelist Kate O’Brien with her sisters, brother-in-law and nephew. The letters illuminate O’Brien’s method of writing, the creative process behind each of her novels and the ups and downs of her career as author. They also reveal her complete lack of financial acumen, her tendency to live wildly beyond her means, and her lifelong dependency on the fiscal good will of Anne and Stephen O’Mara. Of Kate O’Brien’s private life the letters reveal almost nothing, demonstrating a high degree of circumspectness and a tendency to compartmentalise various aspects of her life. The one rare exception is correspondence relating to her brief marriage and its aftermath in 1922-1925 which, while not revelatory as such, exposes a more vulnerable aspect of Kate’s personality.

The O’Brien material also contains correspondence to and from lesser known members of Kate O’Brien’s family, including her parents and her brothers Tom and Eric who died in 1918 and 1920, respectively. A small number of items relate to Michael O’Brien who died in institutional care in 1923. The identity of this individual has not been ascertained but he could possibly be Michael Alphonsus O’Brien who was born between 1888 and 1889 and is claimed to have died in infancy. Also of interest are letters from Austin Clarke to Anne O’Brien in 1916-1917 written in the early stages of the poet’s literary career, which reveal the fragility of his search for expression and sense of identity.

The material also comprises an extensive photographic record of the O’Mara and O’Brien families particularly in the 1920s and 1930s.

This collection contains recordings of songs performed by Dick Cameron and radio programmes hosted by him.

The main portion of this collection consists of wills, accounts, correspondence and statements from the mid- to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries relating to the family’s financial affairs, mostly arising from the will of the 1st Earl of Limerick and the dramatic reduction in rents at the turn of the century, which necessitated the sale of holdings through the Land Commission Court in the early 1900s. There is a small but interesting series of leases of property in Limerick City (P51/3/1/1-3 and P51/4/1-2) and a comprehensive set of documents (P51/3/2/1-28) relating to a dispute over title to St George’s Church at No. 1 Mallow Street, Limerick, which was demolished to make way to the Provincial Bank of Ireland, designed by James and George Richard Pain (for a ground plan of the bank by the Pain brothers, see P51/3/2/11).

While much of the early material relating to the Earls of Limerick and their antecedents is deposited in the National Library of Ireland, some interesting early documents can also be found in this collection. Of particular note is a compilation of manuscript transcripts of letters and petitions (P51/1/1) by Edmond Sexten the elder (1486-1555) and his grandson Edmond Sexten the younger (1595-1636) concerning among other things their disputes with Limerick Corporation. The document is written in secretary hand, but a more easily legible version can be found in P51/1/2. Also worth noting is a compilation of abstracts and copies of early deeds relating to the Sexton, Casey and Stackpole families (P51/1/3). A wonderful example of the emergence of the Age of Enlightenment can be found in P51/2/1 in the shape of a commonplace book, in which Colonel Edmund Pery kept notes between 1671 and 1681 on weights and measures, foreign coins, chronology, geography, astronomy, orthography, pronunciation and usage of English, significance of colours, instructions concerning the keep of horses, recipes for ink, boot polish etc., gardening activities and meteorological predictions.

A shortcoming of this collection is its limited scope. There are no rent rolls, no estate correspondence and no personal correspondence of family members. The building of Dromore Castle remains unrecorded, except for a scrap book (P51/5/4/1) compiled in 1868-1869 to contain sketches by the architect Edward William Godwin and rare photographs of Dromore Castle taken at various stages of its construction and a sketch of fireplace tiles by Godwin (P51/5/4/2). The only item of personal nature in the collection is an album of photographs, sketches, and signatures collected by May, Countess of Limerick during house parties (P51/6/3/2/2).

It should be noted here that the material deposited in the National Library of Ireland dates primarily from 1371 to 1806. A significant gap of the nineteenth-century material therefore exists, both in terms of estate and personal documentation.

This collection comprises a scrapbook compiled by Agnes Mary Gaffney and a number of loose items found inserted inside it. It provides insights into the life and lifestyle of the members of a prominent and politically influential Roman Catholic family and their role not only in the formation of the Irish republic but on the wider arena of Irish-American republicanism and the campaign for women’s rights.

This collection comprises a scrapbook compiled by Charles Henry Gubbins and a number of loose items found inserted inside the book. The collection provides insights into the personal life of a humorous and sociable man and, more broadly, the rich cultural and sporting life of Munster in the last decades of the nineteenth century.

Posters, flyers, brochures, press cuttings, images and a recording relating to Shakram Dance Company’s dance works and performances.

The collection consists of manuscript and typescript biographical accounts of Volunteers and civilians who died during the War of Independence and Civil War and who had links with the West Clare Brigade IRA. The accounts provide detailed information concerning the birth, early education and military career of each individual.

The collection illuminates a turbulent period in Irish history stretching from the later decades of the nineteenth century until the end of the Civil War in 1923. The inclusion of biographical details of Volunteers who were killed during the Civil War while fighting on the anti-Treaty side makes it historically significant, as information of this nature was rarely recorded.

Preliminary and draft manuscripts with edits, finisehd manuscripts and stencils (copies for choir members) of de Regge’s musical compositions.

The papers in the collection relate mainly to the Sandville branch of the family and mostly to the activities of James Grene Barry (1841-1929). They include early twentieth-century notes on family history, possibly compiled by James Grene Barry who was known for his antiquarian interests. The notes trace the history of the Sandville and other branches of the family to Elizabethan times and include much interesting material, such as handwritten copies of leases, mortgages and other documents, and pedigrees of the Barry and other families.

James Grene Barry’s political activities are recorded in a series of documents relating to his objection to Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill of 1893. Of particular interest is a letter from James Alexander Rentoul, MP for East Down, outlining his plans to canvass Grand Jury members across the country against the Bill (P20/2/7).

Administrative records in this collection relate in the main to the Sandville branch Barrys. They are mostly concerned with the family’s financial affairs and also provide an interesting insight into Land League activities in county Limerick at the turn of the twentieth century. One of the few items relating to the Standish Barry branch of Leamlara is a ledger of farm accounts kept by Henry Standish Barry (P20/3/1/1/6).

Another set of documents reflects the professional activities as estate agents of James Grene Barry and his son James Thomas Barry, and the effects on local landowning families of the various Land Acts passed in the early twentieth century. Of particular interest are items relating to the purchase of land from Henry Lyons of Croom Castle (P20/3/2/1/1-9), and the sale of part of the Islandmore estate by Major Roche Kelly (P20/3/2/2/1-2).

Finally, the collection contains deeds and a draft will relating to the Shine family of Coolyhenan, county Limerick, many of whom served as Justices of the Peace for county Limerick in the late nineteenth century. The reason for their presence among the Barry papers has not been ascertained.