Series III: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests and Correspondence, 1920-1992, inclusive
Language of Materials
Scope and Content Note
This series consists of administrative papers, government forms, and other documents related to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and appeals made by Prendiville from 1986 to 1994. The files contains photocopies of memoranda, letters, and reports generated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the course of their surveillance of Irish Republican activities in the United States between 1930 and 1979. Also included are newspaper and magazine articles, brochures, and other literature distributed by Irish American organizations under investigation. Many files contain collections of clippings from Irish publications, especially newspapers produced by support groups, that no longer exist and for which there may be no surviving copies. Organizations present in this series include the Irish Republican Clubs, Clan na Gael, James Connolly Clubs, the Irish American Labor League, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Irish Republican Clubs (IRC), National Association for Irish Freedom (NAIF), the National Association for Irish Justice (NAIJ), and The Citizens for Irish Justice (CIJ). Specific individuals such as James Gralton and James Larkin also appear. Much of the material is heavily redacted.
Arrangement
Files in this series are arranged according to the FBI's original identification and sequence numbers. The FBI assigned each organization a sequence number. For example, the Irish Republican Clubs are identified by the number 97-5329. Each specific document relating to that organization was then numbered sequentially; for example, 97-5329-25 identifies the twenty-fifth document in approximately chronological order. The FBI files also contain records that were filed under more than one organization; when cross-referenced like this, the documents do not have a sequence number. The order in which documents were supplied by the FBI has been maintained except when unknown; then they are filed chronologically.
