People, Power & Politics

Summary of Collection 

The collection of archives relating to the life of Joseph Murray was donated to Donegal County Archives in 2010 by Mr Murray’s son, Patrick. The collection has been given the overall reference number P/183 and has been divided into sections including Accounts of Joseph Murray’s life; Training and Career in Education; War of Independence & Early Truce; Early Civil War; GAA; Personal Life; Tributes; Pension; Pensions of Others; Photographs; Membership of Garda Siochana; Ephemera. 

Joseph Murray was born in County Monaghan on 15 March 1893, son of Charles and Mary Murray. He attended the local Christian Brothers School in Monaghan until 1909. He trained as a teacher in St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. He was awarded a First Grade Certificate of Merit in the college after two years of study, qualifying as a teacher in July 1914. Among the papers in this collection are the original teaching certificates obtained by Murray in 1914 at St Patrick’s College and the memorandum of agreement between himself and the principal of Bundoran National School which employed him as assistant teacher from 1916. (P/183/2/2/3). 

Before being appointed to work in Bundoran he had worked for short periods in Monaghan and Loughrea, Co Galway. In 1923, a former principal of the boys’ school in Bundoran, Reverend Quigley, testified to Murray’s excellence as a resident master with this school in Bundoran stating: ‘during that time he gained the highest esteem by his splendid fidelity to his duty and his kindness and success with his pupils’. (P/183/2/3/3). 

For some of this time he lived in the boys’ orphanage in Bundoran. He became involved with the GAA and the Gaelic League, lifelong interests. 

Clearly identified as a man with leadership qualities from a young age, in late 1917 Murray was asked by Ben Maguire, independent TD for Leitrim, to organise a company of the Volunteers in Bundoran. Initially Murray did not take a rank and stayed in the background as an intelligence officer, thus preventing too much attention being drawn to his activities. During the definitive 1918 General Election Murray campaigned for Sinn Fein candidate P J Ward in Killybegs and the surrounding area. (P/183/1/3) 

These records are digitized and are available to view at Joseph Murray & The Revolutionary Years

The personal papers of Daniel Doherty of Malin Head and Boston. 

Doherty was a native of Malin Head, Inishowen, Co. Donegal. At home he was apparently given the nickname of  'Jammer' Doherty.  Doherty's brother Brian, a fisherman, drowned at sea in the early 1900s. Daniel Doherty emigrated from Ireland to the USA, arriving in Maine in 1909. He worked for the Old Boston Consolidated Gas Company.  He married Nora McGonagle Doherty and they had one daughter, Mary. Doherty joined the US Army at Fort Bliss, Texas and served as an American soldier in France during the First World War. His activity in the War included being involved in battle for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, one of the final campaigns of the war. 

Most of his life, Doherty lived in Boston. He became chairman of the County Donegal Association of Greater Boston in the nineteen sixties. He was also the Chair of the Central Council of Irish County Clubs, Boston; and chairman of the Committee for the Unification and Liberation of Ireland. He lived in Chelsea Old Soldiers' Home and Veterans' Home for at least ten years in his last years. 

The collection consists mostly of letters and telegrams, newspaper clippings, cards, loose newspaper items, photographs. The majority of the material is related to matters of Irish interest or Irish/American activities. The letters are also mainly to and from politicians, including Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and General Charles de Gaulle. 

*Not every item in the collection has been digitised due to the ephemeral nature of some of the archive.*  

The Descriptive List (Catalogue) describes the entire collection in detail. 

The archive was donated to Donegal County Council in the 1990s. 

These records are digitized and are available to view at Daniel Doherty Archive

Photograph album of the Royal Irish Rifles at various locations, before and during the First World War, 1910 – 1916.

The photographs were mainly taken at Finner Camp, County Donegal.

Photographs include

• Rockport 1910,
• Ballyferris 1913,
• Fancy Dress Social,
• Halloweve, 1913,
• Relay race team, 1914,
• Tullymore Park, Easter 1914,
• Bryansford Camp, Easter 1914,
• Foley bridge, 1914,
• Orlock Hill, 1914.
• Includes 12 photographs of Finner Camp 1914-1916.
• Also includes photograph of 14th battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. Randalstown, 1915,
• 'Scoutmasters having tea at Knockmagory 1916,
• Easter Camp 1916.
• Names mentioned include H. Anderson, A. S. Hanna, G. T. McFall, H.E. Keown. Names in Finner include W. Cameron, Major Gunning, 'officers at Finner', J. Hayes (Randalstown), also 'WC and BB showing equipment, Randalstown 1915'. 

Finner Camp, Bundoran