"Bridget" was the Irish immigrant service girl who worked in American homes from the second half of the nineteenth century into the early years of the twentieth. Many of these socially-marginalized Irish immigrant women made their living in domestic service. In contrast to immigrant men, who might have lived in a community with their fellow Irish, these women lived and worked in close contact with American families. Margaret Lynch-Brennan reveals the essential role this unique relationship played in shaping the place of the Irish in America today. Such women were instrumental in making the Irish presence more acceptable to earlier established American groups. At the same time, it was through the experience of domestic service that many Irish were acculturated, as these women absorbed the middle-class values of their patrons and passed them on to their own children.
Drawing on personal correspondence and other primary sources, Ms. Lynch-Brennan gives voice to these young Irish women and celebrates their untold contribution to the ethnic history of the United States. She will also explore the relevance of the Irish Bridget story to contemporary American life in which domestic service is once again populated by female immigrants.
Margaret Lynch-Brennan retired from the New York State Education Department where she worked on issues related to civil rights, education reform, and professional development. She holds a Ph.D. in American History from SUNY Albany and has taught in SUNY Oneonta’s Cooperstown Graduate Program.
