[1] This followed an earlier book by noted chronicler-of-the-wealthy (Our Crowd, The Grandes Dames) Stephen Birmingham Real Lace: America's Irish Rich HarperCollins New York: 1973 in which this family were also the main subjects.

Due to their wealth, good looks, and sheer size (one branch, the James Mc Donnells, had 14 children; another, the Thomas E. Murray Jr.s, had 11) they were frequently covered in the social news of the New York press, particularly in the Hearst newspapers by gossip columnist 'Cholly Knickerbocker'.

[2] The clan were considered pillars of the New York Archdiocese, and were very close to Cardinal Spellman and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen; when Clare Boothe Luce converted to Catholicism, Bishop Sheen suggested that Anna Murray Mc Donnell serve as her godmother.

[6][7][8] Peggy Mc Donnell, a daughter of T. Murray Mc Donnell, is the wife of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. Several other wealthy Irish Catholic families were also discussed in Corry and Birmingham's books, and have been referred to in print as "Golden Clans".

[14] Many of the Golden Clans lived in apartment buildings on Park Avenue north of 79th Street, close by St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Thomas More churches, causing some people to refer to the area as the "Irish Gold Coast".