Servants of the Poor: Teachers and Mobility in Ireland and Irish America

Janet Nolan argues that the roots of this female-driven mobility can be traced to immigrant women's education in Ireland. Armed with the literacy and numeracy learned in Irish schools, Irish immigrant women in America sent their daughters, more than their sons, to school in preparation for professional careers. As a result, Nolan contends, Irish American women entered white-collar work at least a generation before their brothers. is a pioneering work which looks at the teaching profession at the turn of the century from the perspective of the women who taught in Irish and American classrooms. Drawing on previously unpublished archival and manuscript sources, including memoirs and letters, will be of considerable value to those interested in Irish, Irish American, educational, and women's history.