This series consists primarily of the incoming and outgoing correspondence of John J. Keenan, long-time secretary (and past president) of the Charitable Irish Society. Most of the correspondence relates to events and meetings; membership; committee appointments; financial matters; publications and fundraising; and the Society's charitable activities. The series also contains meeting minutes, printed matter, and other papers annotated by Keenan; memoranda and notes; drafts of minutes, correspondence, and announcements; copies of speeches delivered at events; financial statements, receipts, and checks; and applications for assistance by and on behalf of Irish immigrants, as well as notes and letters about individual cases.

The bulk of the papers relate to events of the Society, primarily the annual St. Patrick's Day dinners and Memorial Day celebrations. Included are many invitations and acceptances. Most of the letters between 1911-1912 deal with the 175th anniversary dinner and reception on 18 Mar. 1912, at which President William Howard Taft was the featured speaker. Other papers concern the Society's political activism on matters related to Ireland and the Irish in America, including the "National Origins" clause in the Immigration Act of 1924, quotas on Irish immigration, and deportation; the question of Irish nationhood and the Home Rule movement (ca. 1920s); unemployment and poverty among Irish Americans during the Great Depression; and patriotism, religion, and anti-Catholicism.

Correspondents include politicians, officials, and prominent businessmen; other Irish heritage and charitable organizations; and officers of the Society. Among the officers represented are treasurer Thomas F. Taff and presidents John B. Dore, Patrick O'Loughlin, Richard J. Lane, Bartholomew A. Brickley, John A. Kiggen, Patrick H. Crowley, John M. Harney, Daniel V. McIsaac, John J. Sullivan, James F. McDermott, James A. Dorsey, Charles S. Sullivan, Michael J. Carroll, Louis Watson, Charles J. O'Malley, James H. Carney, Joseph A. F. O'Neil, Francis Henry Appleton, Hugh A. Carney, Thomas M. Green, Edward W. Quinn, Charles D. Maginnis, Leo T. Myles, Michael H. Sullivan, Maurice J. Lacey, William J. Barry, Patrick A. O'Connell, Joseph Joyce Donahue, James T. Sullivan, and Benedict FitzGerald. The series also contains correspondence with David I. Walsh, Samuel Eliot Morison (1937), and Timothy A. Smiddy, first ambassador of the Irish Free State (1928-1929). Of particular interest are individual letters from Theodore Roosevelt, 24 Oct. 1910; Henry Cabot Lodge, 19 Feb. 1912; Herbert Hoover, 14 Jan. 1927; Alfred E. Smith, 22 Feb. [1928?] and 8 Jan. 1929; Helen H. Taft, 3 Apr. 1930; Franklin Roosevelt, 22 Nov. 1935; and Leverett Saltonstall, 24 Feb. 1939.

Also included are a few letters of David A. Keohan, who took over as acting secretary in 1939 when John J. Keenan became ill.

The bulk of this series consists of account books, primarily recording the payment of membership fees. Some of the volumes list members' addresses, as well as the date an individual was proposed for membership and by whom. The series also contains an account book for a ball held 3 Jan. 1894 and annual financial reports, 1927-1939 (with some gaps).

This series consists of reports by Julia C. Hayes, immigration agent for the Charitable Irish Society. Hayes' work involved helping Irish immigrants, primarily girls and women recently arrived at the Boston docks, to find jobs or reunite with family members. Also included are references to marriages, as well as placements at the Immigrants' Home and the Grey Nuns. The reports were initially filed bi-annually, and then monthly. They contain details of specific cases (including deportations), but not individual names; expense accounts; and some annotations by the Society's secretary John J. Keenan.