Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey 1930-1969, undated (bulk 1954-1956) MS.1986.037
http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2793
Archives and Manuscripts Department John J. Burns Library Boston College 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467 617-552-3282 [email protected] http://www.bc.edu/burns Table of Contents
Summary Information ...... 3 Administrative Information ...... 4 Related Materials ...... 4 Biographical note...... 5 Scope and Contents note...... 6 Arrangement note...... 6 Collection Inventory...... 7
Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey MS.1986.037 - Page 2 - Summary Information
Library Unit Archives and Manuscripts Department
Title Boston College collection of Sean O'Casey
Date [bulk] Bulk, 1954-1956
Date [inclusive] 1930-1969, undated
Extent 0.25 Linear feet (1 box)
Language English
Abstract This collection documents Irish playwright Sean O'Casey's business, personal, and political activities through his correspondence. The collection also contains letters from his wife, Eileen, and son, Breon, to friends and business acquaintances regarding O'Casey. In addition, one flyer for the 1930 film adaptation of O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is included.
Preferred Citation note Identification of item, Box number, Folder number, Boston College collection of Sean O'Casey, MS.1986.037, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey MS.1986.037 - Page 3 - Administrative Information
Publication Information Processed by Annalisa Moretti, February 2017. This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit.
Restrictions on access Collection is open for research.
Restrictions on use These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.
Provenance The bulk of this collection was received prior to 1986. Because the current accessioning system was not used until January 1986, it is not possible to know exactly the dates of acquisition of materials received before that time. Subsequent accessions consisted of purchases from Maury A. Bromsen (1990), Stuart Lutz Historic Documents (2001), George Robert Minkoff, Inc. (2004), and a gift from Kathleen Flynn (2009).
Related Materials
Related Archival Materials note Robert G. Lowery papers and collection of Sean O'Casey, MS.1996.025, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey MS.1986.037 - Page 4 - Biographical note
Sean O'Casey was born John Casey on March 30, 1880 in Dublin, Ireland, to Michael and Susan (Archer) Casey, a lower-middle class Protestant family. His father died in 1886. As a child, O'Casey suffered from trachoma, which affected his sight and made it difficult for him to succeed scholastically. He worked periodically throughout his adolescence as a stock boy, a van driver, and railway laborer. During this time, he became interested in Irish working class culture, as well as socialism and labor causes. In 1906 he joined the Gaelic League and began learning the Irish language. He changed his name to Sean O'Cathasaigh and began writing, primarily poetry. A few years later he joined the Irish Transport and General Workers Union and its offshoot, the Irish Citizen Army. He took part in the Dublin lock-out strike in 1913; however, he resigned from these organizations in 1914 and criticized their roles in the Easter Rising of 1916. O'Casey began writing plays around 1916. His first play to be performed was The Shadow of a Gunman, produced in 1923 by the Abbey Theatre. By this time he had assumed the final iteration of his name, Sean O'Casey. He found continued success (and controversy) with subsequent plays, Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars. In 1926, he met Eileen Carey, an actress who was performing in the West End production of The Plough and the Stars, and they married on September 23, 1927. Together they had three children, Breon, Niall, and Shivaun. Due to an increasingly strained relationship with the Abbey Theatre, which refused to produce his play The Silver Tassie, O'Casey and his new family moved permanently to England in 1929. He continued to write, and during this time produced plays, including Within the Gates (1934), The Star Turns Red (1940), and Purple Dust (1943). He also gained a following across the Atlantic when Lillian Gish starred in a production of Within the Gates in New York City. Towards the end of his life O'Casey contended with increasing blindness. His son, Niall, died from leukemia in 1956. O'Casey died of a heart attack on September 18, 1964, at the age of 84. Sources: Cave, Richard Allen. "O'Casey, Sean (1880-1964), playwright and writer." In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (2004), accessed November 3, 2016, http:// www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35283. Donoghue, Dennis. "The advantage he lacked was poverty." In The New York Times Book Review, July 3, 1988, http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/03/books/the-advantage-he-lacked-was-poverty.html Moran, James. "Sean O'Casey." In Oxford Bibliographies in British and Irish Literature, accessed November 3, 2016, http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com.proxy.bc.edu/view/document/ obo-9780199846719/obo-9780199846719-0101.xml
Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey MS.1986.037 - Page 5 - Scope and Contents note
This collection documents Irish playwright Sean O'Casey's business, personal, and political activities through his correspondence. The collection also contains letters from his wife, Eileen, and son, Breon, to friends and business acquaintances regarding O'Casey. Notable correspondents include Don Burke, a journalist from Life magazine who befriended O'Casey and advised him on matters concerning television adaptations of his plays; Sheila Greene, an Irish politician; Marvin Magalaner, an English professor; and John O'Shaughnessy, who directed a Broadway production of O'Casey’s Bedtime Story. Also included is a flyer for the 1930 film adaptation of O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Arrangement note
Chronological.
Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey MS.1986.037 - Page 6 - Collection Inventory
Flyer: Juno and the Paycock, an Alfred Hitchcock Box 1 Folder 38 production, 1930
Greene, Sheila from Sean O'Casey, Sean O'Casey to Box 1 Folder 1 Sheila Greene, 1946 October 12, 19
Greene, Sheila from Sean O'Casey, 1949 March 11 Box 1 Folder 2
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1954 June 24 Box 1 Folder 3
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1954 July 10 Box 1 Folder 4
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1954 October 27 Box 1 Folder 5
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 January 22 Box 1 Folder 6
O'Shaughnessy, John from Sean O'Casey, 1955 February Box 1 Folder 7 3
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 March 1 Box 1 Folder 8
O'Casey, Sean from Don Burke, 1955 March 3 Box 1 Folder 9
Cyril Cusack Gaiety Theatre from Don Burke, 1955 Box 1 Folder 10 March 3
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 March 3 Box 1 Folder 11
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 March 14 Box 1 Folder 12
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 April 8 Box 1 Folder 13
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 May 2 Box 1 Folder 14
O'Casey, Sean from Don Burke, 1955 May 19 Box 1 Folder 15
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 May 23 Box 1 Folder 16
Anderson, Ernest from Don Burke, 1955 May 24 Box 1 Folder 17
Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey MS.1986.037 - Page 7 -
Anderson, Ernest from Don Burke, 1955 July 8 Box 1 Folder 18
O'Casey, Sean from Don Burke, 1955 July 8 Box 1 Folder 19
O'Casey, Sean from Don Burke, 1955 July 29 Box 1 Folder 20
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 July 30 Box 1 Folder 21
Magalaner, Marvin from Sean O'Casey, 1955 October 22 Box 1 Folder 22
O'Shaughnessy, John from Sean O'Casey, 1955 December Box 1 Folder 23 1
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1955 December 11 Box 1 Folder 24
Aldous, Mr. from Don Burke, 1955 December 15 Box 1 Folder 25
O'Casey, Sean and Eileen from Don Burke, 1955 Box 1 Folder 26 December 15
O'Shaughnessy, John from Breon O'Casey, 1956 January Box 1 Folder 27 19
O'Shaughnessy, John from Breon O'Casey, 1956 March Box 1 Folder 28 18
Flynn, Patrick from Sean O'Casey, 1956 April 7 Box 1 Folder 29
O'Shaughnessy, John from Sean O'Casey, 1956 May 23 Box 1 Folder 30
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, 1956 October 30 Box 1 Folder 31
O'Shaughnessy, John from Sean O'Casey, 1957 February Box 1 Folder 32 5
O'Shaughnessy, John from Sean O'Casey, 1957 March 29 Box 1 Folder 33
Don and Mrs. Burke from Sean O'Casey, 1958 March 22 Box 1 Folder 34
O'Shaughnessy, John from Eileen O'Casey, 1968 Box 1 Folder 35 November 21
Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey MS.1986.037 - Page 8 -
O'Shaughnessy, John from Eileen O'Casey, 1969 January Box 1 Folder 36 9
Burke, Don from Sean O'Casey, undated Box 1 Folder 37
Boston College Collection of Sean O'Casey MS.1986.037 - Page 9 -