The Irish Bridget : Irish immigrant women in domestic service in America, 1840-1930

Resource Information

The work The Irish Bridget : Irish immigrant women in domestic service in America, 1840-1930 represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in San Francisco Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The Irish Bridget : Irish immigrant women in domestic service in America, 1840-1930

Title remainder

Irish immigrant women in domestic service in America, 1840-1930

Creator

• Lynch-Brennan, Margaret

Contributor

• hoopla digital

Subject

• Household employees -- United States -- History -- 19th century
• Household employees -- United States -- History -- 20th century
• Immigrants -- United States -- History -- 19th century
• Electronic books
• Irish American women -- United States -- History -- 19th century
• Irish American women -- United States -- History -- 20th century
• Immigrants -- United States -- History -- 20th century

Language

eng

Summary

Many of the socially marginalized Irish immigrant women of this era made their living in domestic service. In contrast to immigrant men, who might have lived in a community with their fellow Irish, these women lived and worked in close contact with American families. Lynch-Brennan reveals the essential role this unique relationship played in shaping the place of the Irish in America today. Such women were instrumental in making the Irish presence more acceptable to earlier established American groups. At the same time, it was through the experience of domestic service that many Irish were acculturated, as these women absorbed the middle-class values of their patrons and passed them on to their own children. Drawing on personal correspondence and other primary sources, Lynch-Brennan gives voice to these young Irish women and celebrates their untold contribution to the ethnic history of the United States. In addition, recognizing the interest of scholars in contemporary domestic services, she devotes one chapter to comparing "Bridget's" experience to that of other ethnic women over time in domestic service in America

Cataloging source

Midwest

Dewey number

640/.46089162073

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Series statement

Irish studies

Target audience

adult