The Ladies
Mayo Ladies Installation, ca. 1950s. AIA NYU/Brian Fitzpatrick.
Longford Ladies Trustee ribbon, 1948. AIA NYU/Rose Cosgrove.
Slow to shirk from celebrating county pride, Irish women have a long history of organization and participation. Although county societies were initially segregated by gender but it wasn’t long before the Men’s groups had auxiliary associations for the Ladies. Garbed in colorful uniforms or beautiful ball gowns, they made a striking impression at county events as well as marching in formation in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade or at the Feis.
The Ladies clearly added more than just aesthetics to these gatherings. They supported the initiatives of their male counterparts but they also ran their own successful fundraising and social events. Irish women voiced, sometimes quite forcefully, their political opinions when they deemed it necessary.
Daughters were initiated into county rituals from an early age, beginning as flower girls at the annual balls, especially that of the United Irish Counties Association, then coming of age as leaders of the Ladies’ Auxiliaries. In time, most of the men’s groups extended membership to women. The smaller Irish counties often pioneered the combination of their Men’s and Ladies organizations. Then, under newly made banners which privileged county affiliation over gender, women quickly stepped into the roles of county officer and President.
Kilkenny Ladies Committee, 1923. AIA NYU/County Societies Collection.
Kildare-Carlow St. Patrick’s Night Ball, 1936. AIA NYU/Kathleen Mulvey.
Louth Honor Guard, UICA Feis, 1956. AIA NYU/County Societies Collection.
Tipperary Ladies Ball, 1914. AIA NYU/ County Societies Collection.
UICA Ladies, ca. 1950s. AIA NYU/Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy.
UICA Ladies, 1953. AIA NYU/Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy.
UICA Ladies Auxilary minutes, 1942. AIA NYU/Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy.
Corkmen’s Minutes, 1922. County Cork B.P. & P. Association.
Corkmen’s Minutes, 1922. County Cork B.P. & P. Association.
Donegal Ladies, Ann Dunlop and Mary Harkin, St. Patrick’s Day, 1969. AIA NYU/ Rosina Gallagher
UICA exhibit, Women’s International Exposition of Arts and Industries, New York City, November 1946.
Armagh Ladies bank passbook, ca. 1930s. AIA NYU/Margaret Callaghan.
UICA Ball program, 1931. AIA NYU/County Societies Collection.
Mayo Ladies with New York City Mayor William O’Dwyer at microphone, ca. late 1940s. AIA NYU/Brian Fitzpatrick.
Dorothy Hayden Cudahy and Maureen Walsh, UICA Ball ca. 1960s. AIA NYU/Cudahy Collection.
