A talk entitled ‘”Rags, Riches and Recycling”; the Dublin Society’s encouragement of Art & Artefacts, 1731-1881’ by Dr Claudia Kinmonth MRIA will take place at 7.30pm, 23rd Jan 2020 at R.S.A.I. 63 Merrion Square S. Dublin 8.
This richly illustrated talk presents the findings of Kinmonth’s 2018 ‘Library & Archives research Bursary’ at the Royal Dublin Society. She researched the first fifty years of the Dublin Society’s existence; using their manuscripts together with their collection of art, sculpture and furniture, to reveal how they boosted ‘Poor Ireland’s’ material culture. They advertised prizes for eg drawing and sculpture, for planting trees, for manufacturing such things as salt, glue, paper or gold lace (which previously had been imported), and their ‘premiums’ helped the working poor and their children. Themes emerge about eg the barter of china for rags, the recycling of rags into paper, re-use of gold lace for re-smelting into jewellery, and the names and appearance of individuals rewarded for inventions. This work is published as an article in ‘Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies’ Vol. XXI (2018).