Part 2 - Papers of Margaret Mary Pearse

Margaret Mary Pearse was a teacher, Irish language activist, and politician. She was born in Dublin on 4 August 1878, the eldest child of James Pearse and Margaret Pearse (née Brady). Margaret Mary worked with her brothers Patrick and William to found St. Enda’s School (Scoil Éanna) in Cullenswood House in Ranelagh, Dublin, in 1908. Following the deaths of her brothers in 1916, she took over the management of the school. Scoil Éanna continued until 1935 when financial troubles forced its closure. In public life, she was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Dublin County constituency at the 1933 general election. She subsequently served as a senator in Seanad Éireann (the upper house of the of the Oireachtas) from 1938 to 1968. Margaret Mary Pearse shared her brother’s cultural and political vision for Ireland and devoted much of her life to upholding Patrick’s legacy. She lived out her life in St. Enda’s, but was never completely free from financial difficulties. She died on 7 November 1968 and, following the wishes of her mother, bequeathed Scoil Éanna to the Irish state. The collection comprises mostly personal papers including correspondence, photographs, and ephemera. Many of the records relate to her role in the management of Scoil Éanna, her interest in education, and to her efforts to perpetuate the memory of the role played by her family in the revolutionary period.