Daniel Cassidy Papers
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Abstract
Daniel Cassidy (1943-2008), Irish-American writer, singer, filmmaker, and professor. Beginning his career as a musician and screenwriter, Cassidy later turned his interests towards research and academia, focusing on storytelling, newspaper writing, and broadcast history. A prolific writer, Cassidy's works include numerous newspaper and journal articles, as well as the book How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads. Materials in this collection include notes, manuscript drafts, annotated newspapers, play scripts, census documents, and annotated research files. The material primarily documents Cassidy's research interests and film work, with smaller portions concerning his personal life and his time with both the New College of California and the Crossroads Irish American Festival.
Biographical Note
Daniel Cassidy (1943-2008), an Irish-American writer, singer, filmmaker, and professor, was born in Brooklyn in 1943. He attended the the New York Military Academy on a musical scholarship, and studied English Literature and Creative Writing at Cornell University. His first job was at the New York Times, which he left to pursue screenwriting full time. From the late 1960s through the 1980s, Cassidy performed as a musician, but gradually transitioned into composing his own music. He performed at, among other places, Carnegie Hall, the LA Civic Auditorium, and on the Tonight Show. In addition to his musical work, Cassidy was also a prolific screenwriter--he sold film scripts and treatments, and worked in both film development and television production. His 1996 documentary, Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs, about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, was nominated for an Emmy Award, and his film Uncensored Voices aired on PBS.
In the 1990s, Cassidy's interests turned toward research and academia. Cassidy was a professor at New College of California, in the Media & Film Studies Department, where he taught storytelling, newspaper writing, and broadcast history classes. In 1995, he founded the Irish Studies Program (An Leann Eireannach) at New College. Cassidy was co-director of the program, one of the first in the country, until the college closed in 2008. Additionally, Cassidy was co-founder of the Crossroads Irish American Festival in San Francisco, and served as director of the festival until his death.
Cassidy was a prolific contributor to newspapers and journals. His book, How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads, was published in 2007. The book, which looked at the influence of Irish phrases on slang that developed in America in the 1800s, won the 2007 American Book Award for nonfiction. The book was met with much praise from within the Irish-American community, but was criticized by linguists for lacking evidence to support the book's claims. Cassidy's other research interest was African-American and Irish intermarriage in New York City in the 1800s, although he did not develop this enough before his death to publish any scholarly work on the topic. Cassidy died on October 11, 2008.
Arrangement
The Daniel Cassidy Papers are arranged in four series:
Missing Title
- Series I. Research and Publications
- Series II. Personal Papers
- Series III. Film
- Series IV. Media
Scope and Content Note
This collection comprises material primarily relating to the research interests and film work of Daniel Cassidy, with smaller portions of the collection dealing with his personal papers as well as his time with both New College of California and the Crossroads Irish American Festival. Materials include awards, correspondence, newspapers, annotated secondary source materials, original writings, and play scripts.
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Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
The Tamiment Library does not have information about who owns copyright to this collection. Materials in this collection are expected to enter the public domain in 2078. The Tamiment Library is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Daniel Cassidy Papers; AIA.049; box number; folder number; Archives of Irish America/Tamiment Library, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Provenance is unknown. The accession number associated with this collection is 2010.070.
Separated Materials
Duplicate copies of unnanotated newspapers and journals were removed from the collection. Additionally, photocopied duplicates of annotated play scripts were also removed. An unannotated photocopy of the full text of Criminal Slang: The Vernacular of the Underworld Lingo by Vincent Monteleone was removed from the collection; a copy of the book is available in Bobst. Personal material was removed from the collection and returned to the family.
About this Guide
Processing Information Note
When this material arrived, there was no discernible order inherent in the way the material was arranged. There were no folders or other means of organization, and materials related to each other were scatted among the various boxes. The current organization of the collection was imposed by the archivist. Once the order was established, materials were all placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Folder titles were assigned, as there were no pre-existing folder titles.
The dates on the folders containing previously published (secondary source) or census material indicate the dates that Cassidy annotated the material, not the date of original publication. There are a wide range of original publication dates within the secondary source material; the majority of the historical newspaper clippings and plays were originially published between 1880-1920. Dates in brackets are best approximations of when Cassidy was annotating the material.
Repository
Series I: Research & Publications, 1986-2008
Scope and Content Note
Series I: Research & Publications consists of material relating to the two main focuses of Cassidy's research: tracing the Irish language in America and African-American/Irish intermarriage in New York City in the 1800s (what Cassidy called "Black Irish"). It includes Cassidy's typed notes and draft manuscripts, annotated historical newspaper clippings and play scripts, census documents, and extensive annotated secondary source material, as well as a large collection of notebooks containing Cassidy's own research notes, which deal with both of these research interests as well as his New College classes. Although there is some overlap between Cassidy's two areas of focus, the majority of his annotations on the secondary source material, newspapers, and plays have to do with his research on the Irish language and American slang. Cassidy's annotations on on the census documents focus on African-American/Irish intermarriage.
How the Irish Invented Slang Research, Drafts, and Notes, 2000-2008
How the Irish Invented Slang Drafts, 2007
How the Irish Invented Slang Drafts, 2007
Slanguage Column Drafts, 2008
Jazz: Historical Newspapaper Clippings, Part 1 of 2, [2000s]
Jazz: Historical Newspaper Clippings, Part 2 of 2, [2000s]
Nosey Blivens Lines 'Em Out column, [2000s]
Scoop Gleeson Columns, [2000s]
Slang: Historical Newspaper Clippings, [2000s]
Irish Travellers/Shelta Research, [2000s]
Black Irish: Drafts and Notes, Part 1 of 2, [1990s]
Black Irish: Drafts and Notes, Part 2 of 2, [1990s]
8th Ward, 1860 - Irish-African Inter-Marriages, [1990s]
1850 U.S. Federal Census Records, [1990s]
1860 U.S. Federal Census Records, [1990s]
1870 U.S. Federal Census Records, [1990s]
1880 U.S. Federal Census Records, [1990s]
1920 U.S. Federal Census Records, [1990s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, A-B, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, C-D, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, E, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, F, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, G-J, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, K, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, L, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, M, Part 1 of 2, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, M, Part 2 of 2, [2000s]
Peter Tamony: Word Man of San Francisco's Mission/McLain, Marjorie, 1986
Annotated Secondary Sources, N-O, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, T-Z, [2000s]
The Hidden Ireland/Corkery, Daniel, [2000s]
Annotated Secondary Sources, Unknown Attribution, [2000s]
Radio Free Erin: How the Irish Became White Debate/Ignatiev & Quinn, 1996
Anna Christie: A Play in Four Acts/O'Neill, Eugene, [2000s]
Cordelia's Aspirations/Harrington, Edward, Part 1 of 2, [2000s]
Cordelia's Aspirations/Harrington, Edward, Part 2 of 2, [2000s]
An t-Impire Mac Seoin (The Emperor Jones)/O'Neill, Eugene, [2000s]
The Mulligan Guard Ball/Harrington, Edward, [2000s]
The Mulligan Guard Nominee/Harrington, Edward, Annotated copy 1, Part 1 of 2, [2000s]
The Mulligan Guard Nominee/Harrington, Edward, Annotated copy 1, Part 2 of 2, [2000s]
The Mulligan Guard Nominee/Harrington, Edward, Annotated copy 2, Part 1 of 2, [2000s]
The Mulligan Guard Nominee/Harrington, Edward, Annotated copy 2, Part 2 of 2, [2000s]
The Mulligan Guard Nominee/Harrington, Edward, Annotated copy 3, [2000s]
Mulligan's Silver Wedding/Harrington, Edward, Annotated copy 1, [2000s]
Mulligan's Silver Wedding/Harrington, Edward, Annotated copy 2, Part 1 of 2, [2000s]
Mulligan's Silver Wedding/Harrington, Edward, Annotated copy 2, Part 2 of 2, [2000s]
Reilly and the Four Hundred/Harrington, Edward, [2000s]
Clippings Authored by Cassidy, 1997-2008
Notebook 1, 2001-2008
Notebook 2, 2002-2008
Notebook 3, 2004-2008
Notebook 4, 2004-2008
Notebook 5, 2004-2008
Notebook 6, 2003-2008
Notebook 7, 2006-2008
Notebook 8, 2006-2008
Notebook 9, ca. 2000
Notebook 10, 2005-2008
Notebook 11, 1997-2008
Notebook 12, 2005-2008
Notebook 13, ca. 2000
Notebook 14, ca. 2000
Notebook 15, 2008
Notebook 16, ca. 2000
Notebook 17, ca. 2000
Notebook 18, 2003-2008
Notebook 19, 2001-2008
Notebook 20, 2001-2008
Notebook 21, ca. 2000
Notebook 22, 2001-2008
Notebook 23, 2004-2008
Series II: Personal Papers, 1871-2008
Scope and Content Note
Series II: Personal Papers is relatively brief, and mostly contains awards, correspondence and newspaper clippings relating to Cassidy's life and work, as well as his research into his personal family history. The correspondence that was provided with the collection is very sporadic, and consists of emails written and printed out by Cassidy, and notes from friends and colleagues regarding his illness. The newspaper clippings differ from those in Series I, as these are clippings about, not authored by, Cassidy. The most significant portion of material in this series relates to Cassidy's work on tracing his own family's genealogy.
Personal Email/Correspondence, 2004-2008
Family Genealogy, 1871-2008
Awards/Certificates, 2000-2008
New College of California/Crossroads Irish-American Festival, 2000-2007
Clippings About Cassidy, 1998-2007
Series III: Film, 1987-1997
Scope and Content Note
Series III: Film includes Cassidy's scripts, screenplays, and film treatments. It includes many final versions of these, as well as draft manuscripts, research notes, and correspondence relating to his film work.
Film Correspondence, 1995
Film Research Notes and Clippings, [1990s]
Court Files, Extradition of Terence Damien Kirby, 1994
The Island Journal, 1987-1989
Oral History Transcripts, Part 1 of 2, [1990s]
Oral History Transcripts, Part 2 of 2, [1990s]
Oral History Recording: Kevin, Day 3, 1997
Untitled Manuscripts, [1990s]
Untitled Script Drafts, [1990s]
The Buffalo Road script, ca. 1990
The Neighbor That Said 'No!' script, ca. 1990
Ozark One screenplay, copy 1, ca. 1990
Ozark One screenplay, copy 2, ca. 1990
South of Market script, ca. 1990
This Dance Can Kill script, ca. 1990
The Volunteer Film Treatment, Drafts and Notes, Part 1 of 2, 1993-1995
The Volunteer Film Treatment, Drafts and Notes, Part 2 of 2, 1993-1995
The Volunteer Film Treatment, ca. 1995
Series IV: Media, 1994-2002
Scope and Content Note
Series, IV: Media, contains a collection of slides, cassette tapes, CDs, Hi8 tapes, and floppy discs, much of which could not be accessed. The CD contains photos from his book tour; and, from the labels, most of the material on the floppy discs consists of research notes and drafts, and the Hi8 tapes contain taped lectures.