Archive and Heritage Talks

Women, Activism, Archive and Heritage

Sun 06 Aug, 2:00 – 6:00pm

The Deep End, 21 Nithsdale St, Glasgow G41 2PZ

Ticketed but free

Book tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/672126958827

Join our archivist Paula Larkin for a series of talks exploring women’s role in activism and the importance of archiving women’s contributions. All talks will be followed by a Q&A and there will be stalls from Govanhill Baths Archive and from the Govanhill Baths Culture Collective Women’s Writing Group. The event will be followed by a reception with refreshments, before the screening of Sitting Tight, a documentary about the Lee Jeans Sit-in in Greenock, introduced by Rhia Laing.

2:00 – 2:15pm

Govanhill Baths Archive & Heritage
Paula Larkin

2:15 – 3:45pm

Bread and Roses v Bread and Circuses: The story of the treatment of Glasgow’s Culture, Elspeth King
This session will offer a brief historical survey of Glasgow’s material culture looking at when Glasgow, capital of culture 1990 adopted the culture of capitalism. Why did Glasgow choose cultural destruction through the comprehensive redevelopment areas of 1955-1985 and why was so much lost? Is it acceptable to think of the culture purchased by William Burrell as being in any way an adequate replacement for what has been destroyed and forgotten?
Expect to see a lot of social history objects, most of which have never seen the light of day since they were consigned to storage and in some cases, to dispersal after 1990.

4:00 – 5:00pm

Sell and be damned – Stories and struggle
Anni Donaldson
Sell and be damned – the great Merrylee Housing Scandal of 1951 by Ned Donaldson and Les Forster, first published in 1992 and republished in 2022, tells the story of one of Glasgow’s most successful post-war direct action housing campaigns. This important little book has other stories to tell however. Weaving together memory and history, the personal and the political, this session by Anni Donaldson will revisit some of the Merrylee story’s sites of struggle over the last 70 years. Dr Anni Donaldson is a writer, feminist scholar, oral historian. Ned Donaldson was her Dad.

5:00 – 6:00pm

Reception

6.00 – 8.00pm

“Sitting Tight” Screening.

Irish Roots

Mon 07 Aug, 5:00 – 8:00pm

Dixon Halls, 656 Cathcart Rd, Glasgow G42 8AA

Ticketed but free

Book tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/672114210697

The influence of Irish migrants, especially from the North West of Ireland, on the development of the southside of Glasgow and on the towns and villages surrounding it, is an important part of Scotland’s history and our heritage. This event outlines the history of migration between Scotland and Ireland and aims to challenge some of the myths that exist about the Irish in Scotland. Rather than a definitive history, it will capture some of the richness of Irish life in the southside and the ways that the Irish who made their home here contributed to its vibrant community life too.

5:00 – 5:15pm

Govanhill Baths Archive & Heritage
Paula Larkin

5:15 – 6:00pm

Researching your Irish Family History
Dr Irene O’Brien, Glasgow City Archives
Dr Irene O’Brien, Glasgow City Archivist and specialist in Irish Family History will talk about all the facilities and resources you can use to research your family history.

6.00 – 7.00pm

Little Donegal – The Irish in the Gorbals and Govanhill, 2nd Edition by Colm Bryce
Due to popular demand the 2nd Edition of Colm Bryce book ‘Little Donegal’ offers new chapters – The Irish in the Gorbals and Govanhill. The book traces the influence of Irish migrants to the southside of Glasgow, especially from the North West of Ireland, and how their lives affected the area they settled in. Irish people have been part of the history of Scotland since the Dál Riada tribe (the original ‘Scoti’) settled the West coast from 400CE onwards. They were there as places like Glasgow began to grow in the 17th and 18th centuries; and they were a part of all the stages of development of cities like Glasgow and the towns and villages surrounding it, including Govanhill.

7.00 – 8:00pm

The Irish Revolution and Red Clydeside by Dave Sherry
This pamphlet explores the role of ordinary women and men during the great wave of struggles that swept Ireland and Clydeside in the period immediately before, during and after the First World War – the period of Red Clydeside (1910 -1923). It will cover Irish immigration, the Great Unrest (notably the Belfast Dock Strike and the Dublin Lock-out), the Suffragettes, the Irish Home Rule Crisis, the Easter Rising, the anti- war movement, the munitions strikes, the rent strikes, the post war struggles – including the struggle against unemployment, the Irish War of Independence and the partition of Ireland and the Irish Civil War. It will show how these events were part and parcel of an international struggle that inspired revolution across Europe and colonial rebellion.