On Monday 28 October 2024 we were delighted to join with the the Lurgan Mechanics Institute to host a talk by Joanna Bourke, Professor Emerita of History at Birkbeck University, which gave an insight into the early history of the Lurgan Mechanics Institute (opened in 1859).

An essay based on the talk can be downloaded by clicking the following link: Lurgan Mechanics Institute Article by Prof. Joanna Bourke

A  recording of the talk can be viewed below:

About Joanna Bourke:

Joanna Bourke is Professor Emerita of History at Birkbeck, University of London, Professor Emerita of Rhetoric at Gresham College, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She is the prize-winning author of 15 books, as well as over 120 articles in academic journals. In 2022 Oxford University Press published her book Birkbeck: 200 Years of Radical Education for Working People that provides a history of Birkbeck University, which began life as the London Mechanics Institute. Reaktion Books published Disgrace: Global Reflections on Sexual Violence and he is currently completing a book entitled Evil Women.