Letter 1: Nano Nagle writing to Miss Fitzsimons on 17 July 1769

Manuscript copy of a letter written by Nano Nagle, detailing her intent to found schools for the poor in Cork. The letter was written to Miss Fitzsimons, on 17 July 1769. It refers to the dangers attached to her education venture, at a time when penal legislation prevented Catholics from owning and running schools. The original Ms letter was transcribed in the early twentieth century, and this is a copy of the transcription. The whereabouts of the original is unknown. This is the first of the seventeen surviving letters by Nano Nagle, and is generally known as Letter 1. The manuscript was gifted by the Urusline Sisters, Ireland, to the Presentation Sisters Congregation Archive, Cork, in 2018, on the occasion of the tercentenary of the birth of Nano Nagle.