The Gathering: Listowel

My husband Ben had the good fortune to inherit a collection of letters belonging to his great-grandfather, Frank Gleasure, who - God love him - saved every letter his family ever sent him from their hometown of Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland. We've been transcribing them and posting them online at The Gleasure Letters. A few months ago, we had the good fortune to be interviewed on Skype by Tadgh Kennelly. Kennelly is an Irish athlete living in Australia who, as part of the tourism initiative The Gathering, returned to his native Listowel and hosted the Listowel-focused episode of the tv show The Gathering.

During the episode, they tell the story of my ancestors-in-law among tales of other Listowel residents, past and present. (They got only minor details wrong. For example, Frank was Ben's great-grandfather, not his grandfather. But for the most part, it was pretty accurate.) The Skype interview with Ben and yours truly airs towards the middle of the episode, but pieces of the Gleasure story are told earlier, too. There's a major surprise involved for us!

Since the episode has recently become available on YouTube, I wanted to share it here. Enjoy!
 

Magna Carta Conservation at NARA

As someone who worked at NARA, where most documents are handled with clean, dry, bare hands, I've never understood the vehemence with which some people insist on gloves for the handling of old documents. I've done it at jobs where it was the institution's standard practice, but not without voicing my objections. My understanding is that it provides increased risk with little to no added benefit over bare hands. (Photographs, of course, are a completely different story!)

"Boring"!?

"They changed it at Ellis Island": Betty White on SNL

"Blarfengar Blarfegnar" spelled L-E-E S-M-I-T-H. And I thought it was bad when my 2nd great aunt Helen Quinn was enumerated as Hellen Quinne!

I Wish

This music video stars my cousin Gina Cimmelli of Gina's Picture Show, and was produced and directed by my sister Laura O'Hara. Watch, enjoy, share with your friends!