‘Oh those long months without a word from home’, Migrant letters from mining frontiers

Abstract

Recent economic woes in Ireland mean many are once again emigrating in search of jobs. Emigration can be an emotional event for the emigrant, and those they leave behind. However, this generation will experience emigration differently to any previous generation. The advent of the internet and webcam services means that there are no longer any communication delays between emigrants and their friends and family because of vast geographical distances. It is easy to forget how recent these changes have been. In 1873 Michael Flanaghan an emigrant in California, wrote to his family home in Ireland marvelling at a photograph of his brother; ‘It is a most useful art this photographing by which one can send from one end of the world to the other a pretty correct representation without writing a word about it’ (M. Flanaghan, 5 July 1873, Flanaghan family letters, Miller Collection, University of Missouri). Our own technological ...