Irish Immigrant Healing Magic in Nineteenth-Century New York City

This article presents an Irish magical cure for scrofula, reported by the New York Times in 1858, as a means to discuss the significance of Irish magical healing in the U.S. and how archaeologists might be able to recognize its material traces. Because of how magic has been historically understood in the West, 19th-century Americans used examples of Irish magic to bolster anti-Irish stereotypes and behaviors. Magical healing, nevertheless, was an important and effective strategy for the Irish who suffered from a dramatic increase in illnesses and injuries in the U.S. It was an integral part of their worldview, and it influenced how they interpreted new healing commodities like patent medicines. This article encourages archaeologists to reconsider the importance of magical healing in the past and the present.