1. Today’s Mustache Monday comes from the NYPL’s “Mountjoy Prison Portraits of Irish Independence: Photograph Albums in the Thomas A. Larcom Collection.” The two albums in the collection originally belonged to Sir Thomas Aiskew Larcom (1801-1879), the permanent Under Secretary for Ireland from 1853 to 1869. Identified as felons and Fenian political prisoners, the subjects of these photographs include some of the leaders of the Fenian Brotherhood and its Irish wing, the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Clearly the photographer felt their incarceration to be unjust; in a letter to Mr. Larcom, pasted inside one of the albums, he writes, “You asked me some months ago to get you the photographs of the convicted and untried political prisoners who have been confined in Mountjoy. // I now send you a most unique ‘Book of Beauty’ … The camera is bad, but I am about to get a better, a really good one.” The Irish in the American Civil War blog also identifies several of these men as veterans. Lots of interesting history in the comments. Top left in this set is James Burns, Captain, 23rd Illinois Infantry. Born in England, he served in the ranks and reenlisted as a Veteran Volunteer before being wounded at Second Winchester in 1864.

    Today’s Mustache Monday comes from the NYPL’s “Mountjoy Prison Portraits of Irish Independence: Photograph Albums in the Thomas A. Larcom Collection.” The two albums in the collection originally belonged to Sir Thomas Aiskew Larcom (1801-1879), the permanent Under Secretary for Ireland from 1853 to 1869.

    Identified as felons and Fenian political prisoners, the subjects of these photographs include some of the leaders of the Fenian Brotherhood and its Irish wing, the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Clearly the photographer felt their incarceration to be unjust; in a letter to Mr. Larcom, pasted inside one of the albums, he writes, “You asked me some months ago to get you the photographs of the convicted and untried political prisoners who have been confined in Mountjoy. // I now send you a most unique ‘Book of Beauty’ … The camera is bad, but I am about to get a better, a really good one.”

    The Irish in the American Civil War blog also identifies several of these men as veterans. Lots of interesting history in the comments.

    Top left in this set is James Burns, Captain, 23rd Illinois Infantry. Born in England, he served in the ranks and reenlisted as a Veteran Volunteer before being wounded at Second Winchester in 1864.

  2. Some Entertainment For The Snow Day

    Looking for something to do while stuck indoors, blanketed under a million feet of snow? Here are a few news articles to check out. NYPL was mentioned in four stories over the last two days - and all of them are just fascinating, if we do say so ourselves. They show the wide variety of programs and materials we offer. Enjoy!

    1 - CBS Sunday Morning highlighted our Three Faiths exhibit in a brilliant piece about the similarities and connections between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Great holiday piece. 

    2 - The NY Times profiled the Daddy and Me program we’ve launched with the city Department of Corrections to teach inmates at Rikers Island to read, then tape them so they can essentially read stories to their kids while in jail.

    3 - The NY Post highlighted our TOFT archive, which includes thousands of videos of Broadway plays, either acquired or taped by us (our folks tape about 60 shows a year). The videos are critical reference material for scholars, actors, producers and so on.

    4 - The NY Post did a piece on New Year’s resolutions and included our president Dr. Paul LeClerc. He wants to read more!