Postcard
Collection object
2005.0019
H. 11.5 W. 20.0
Postcard, b/w. Title at bottom right " Rathkeale, Co. Limerick". View looking down a shop-lined street which bends slightly to right then straightens again; single cart against right and left kerb in middle distance, one person looking out of shop door at right. Fitzgibbon and Gaynor over shops at left; McCarthy at right. Reverse printed in black; at bottom left "Ireland was an exciting place at the turn of the century when these plate/ photographs were taken. The wonderful inventions of industry were/ providing work for some of the 4.5 million who chose to stay at home. They/ were glad to leave the often overcrowded family farms for the new sprawling/ urban centres./ In the 1800's emigration to the United States reached a peak. Never was it/ higher than in 1851 after the Great Famine when 221,253 Irish people were/ addmitted by U.S. Immigration. Of course many thousands more died on the/ so called "Coffin ships" which plied the angry Atlantic for a single steerage/ fare of £5 per head"; to right box for stamp and five address lines. Neither used nor posted.