The Finerty Irish Papers reflect John F. Finerty's long-standing interest in and involvement with Irish political events and social movements, particularly during the 1920s when the Irish Free State was created by the British Parliament. Finerty supported the Irish cause in the United States on both a professional and personal level. He was strongly pro-Republican and his early associations with various Irish government officials resulted in close friendships that lasted for decades. Among the primary correspondents are Eamon de Valera, prime minister and president of Ireland, and Sean T. O'Ceallaigh, co-founder of the Sinn Fein organization and later president of Ireland. Finerty served as de Valera's legal counsel in the Irish bond litigation in the 1920s, records of which comprise a large portion of the papers (see Series I). He was also active with the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic (AARIR), serving as president in 1922-23.
There is a fair amount of personal correspondence, most of which is filed in the Irish General Correspondence series and the Miscellaneous Subject series. Scattered issues of the Irish Bulletin and the Daily Bulletin, and single issues of magazines and newspapers that were of interest to Finerty are also present, in addition to published proceedings of the Dail Eireann, 1919-22 (3 vols.).
The papers include a variety of types of material--correspondence, memoranda, telegrams, legal documents and briefs, court transcripts, pamphlets, photographs, receipts, Congressional bills and resolutions, and newspaper clippings. Of special note are the matchbox and codes Finerty used to smuggle messages to de Valera when the latter was incarcerated in Ireland in 1923. The main concentration of materials in the 40-year span of the collection date from the 1920s and the 1950s. The intervening years are sparsely represented. The papers have been divided into four series: I. Irish Bond Litigation, 1919- 1935; II. American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, 1920- 1923; III. Irish General Correspondence, 1921-1966; and IV. Miscellaneous Subject Files, 1921-1957. For the most part, the organization and folder titles used by Mr. Finerty have been retained, as has his chronological arrangement. Access to an individual correspondent's name is available through an alphabetical list.
The Finerty Irish Papers reflect only Finerty's professional involvement with de Valera and the Irish bond litigation, and on a personal level, his interest in Ireland and matters of Irish concern in this country. Other famous court cases in which he played a role are not documented in this collection. His American Papers are at the University of Oregon.
John Frederick Finerty was born in Chicago in 1885 to John Frederick and Sadie I. Hennessy Finerty. After completing his law degree at Northwestern University he began to practice railroad law. From 1912 to 1920 he was assistant general counsel for the Great Northern Railway, and after World War I he served as assistant general counsel to the United States Railroad Administration. He entered private practice and had offices in both Washington and New York City for several years. In his 53 years of practice he tried many important cases for shippers, railroads, and the government before the Interstate Commerce Commission and federal and Supreme courts.
Finerty supported many controversial causes on a personal and professional level. In the early 1920s he represented Eamon de Valera in the Irish Republican bond litigation. In 1927 he prepared the last writ of habeas corpus for Sacco and Vanzetti and argued it before Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. In the 1930s Finerty was counsel in the appeal of Tom Mooney who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1916 San Francisco Preparedness Day bombing. Finerty also served as special counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Moscow trials, taking testimony from Leon Trotsky about Stalin's methods of eliminating his critics. Finally, Finerty was involved as a friend of the court after the conviction of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Finerty was very active in the Irish Republican cause, supporting independence from England. For a time he served as president of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. Finerty died in New York City on June 5, 1967 after a long illness. For further details see the New York Times obituary, June 6, 1967.
