Civil war documents found in Mayo shed to be exhibited in US

CIVIL War documents found in an old shed in Newport are to be exhibited in Cleveland this autumn.

The treasure trove discovered by sheep farmer Pat Chambers during his renovation works are also going to be digitised and made available online to the public.

Mr. Chambers found a jar packed with important documentation relating to the Civil War in the Newport area while renovating a shed a few years ago. It included information on Civil War activities in west Mayo, the Newport Sinn Féin accounts and records of payments made relating to the visit to the area of future Taoiseach Sean Lemass.

Letters from Cleveland, Ohio, detailed the strength of feeling in the city in respect of the treaty, while a further letter from Cleveland, written by Tom Chambers, lamented the death of Jim Moran who took the anti-treaty side and lost his life in an engagement with Free State forces in March 1923.

Members of Mayo County Council's heritage and library committee were told in a report how the collection had been donated to the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide who enhanced the original documents with research that has added greatly to our understanding of this turbulent period in our history.

An exhibition of the material was launched at the museum last July.

In his report, county library Austin Vaughan outlined how some of this historic material originates in Cleveland, Ohio, a city where more than 10% of the population claim Irish ancestry.

The Michael Davitt Museum plan to transport the collection, ancillary exhibits and recorded interviews with local historians to Cleveland this October and exhibit it in a number of locations there.

It is hoped this visit will strength the cultural ties between Cleveland and Mayo and provide opportunities for further cultural collaborations.

The fact that the heritage committee met 100 years to the day that the Civil War ended was noted by cathaoirleach Councillor Michael Burke.

The Decade of Centenaries programme, he said, had been very successful, with events commemorated with dignity and balance.

Councillor Gerry Coyle complimented Pat Chambers for making the documents available to the Michael Davitt Museum.

He was glad to see the people of the Civil War remembered, whatever side they were on. For a long time it was not spoken about and it was good to remember.