Town & country

Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series: As the correspondents in this sub-subseries make evident, McIlhenny cultivated a social network that reached across noted names in all the arts, as well as titled gentry, royalty and political figures. Whenever celebrities of the stage, screen or concert hall were performing in Philadelphia, McIlhenny would invite them to his home at Rittenhouse Square, just a stone's throw away from the major theatres and hotels. Although they could not always accept the offer, invitees included Noel...

Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series: Most of the correspondents in this sub-subseries resided or did business in County Donegal, and thereby suggest the surrounding community and its interactions with Glenveagh, McIlhenny's country estate in the northwest of Ireland. With many written during the early 1940s, their letters give voice to the ways of life necessitated by war. Many are letters of thanks to McIlhenny for sending items from America that were rationed or in short supply in Europe, particularly tea, as well as...