They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem and dysfunction, through a succession of stories that are brilliantly strange, sometimes very funny, and often deeply moving.

From medieval battlefields to revolutions we've shared ringside seats to some of the greatest moments in history. I had no idea that Irish women made up such a high proportion of New York, Boston and Toronto’s incarcerated populations in the 19th and early 20th centuries, not to mention the breadth of crimes of which they were convicted. Dr Leanne McCormick is a Senior Lecturer in Modern Irish Social History and the Director of the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland (CHOMI) at Ulster University.Were Irish women migrants involved in illegal practices of abortion and infanticide to the same extent as their counterparts in Ireland? You can get Alan's book 'Mining Irish-American Lives Western Communities from 1849 to 1920' here https://upcolorado. Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, in conversation with Kathy Clugston, talk about their bestselling book and tell the strange, funny, and often moving stories of these Bad Bridgets, young women who left their impoverished homeland and ended up as sex workers, thieves, kidnappers and killers.

Dr Elaine Farrell is a Reader in Irish Social History at Queen’s University Belfast, specialising in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Ireland. By exploring the crimes that Irish girls and women committed in urban America, we can get a glimpse of the daily realities of their lives, the ways they made money, their social activities, and the demands on their time and resources. Through an eclectic mix of sights, sounds, smells and objects, our exhibition charts these women's experiences of migration; starting with their lives in Ireland, and the hardships that led many to migrate. this is a valuable work of social history that offers a vibrant reconstruction of a familiar terrain – Irish immigration to North America – from a fresh and enlightening perspective, that of Irish female criminals.Andrew McDowell came on board, we successfully applied for funding from the AHRC and after many meetings later here we are today! This 'back and forth' composing became a lot of fun, where the two women were eagerly waiting for each other’s musical ideas to which they could then respond in their own time and in their own homes (Franziska indeed recorded in her small but nicely resonant bathroom in Belfast! Those who drank to drown their sorrows, the mothers who neglected their children, and groups of women whose drinking on the streets brought them to court. Bad Bridget represents the beginning of a new experience here for our visitors with our collaboration focusing on new sensory elements. Hear how many young Irish girls and women, some as young as 11 or 12, travelled alone to America to escape poverty at home and to earn money for their families.

Katherine May thoughtfully shows us how to come through these times with the wisdom of knowing that, like the seasons, our winters and summers are the ebb and flow of life. Some who migrated from Ireland believed their partners would follow them, only to find themselves alone and thousands of miles from home.

When this enormous sea crane ship crashed into the Irish coast, it's owners got more than they bargained for. We are responsible for ensuring that Northern Ireland’s significant collection is developed, cared for, and accessible to the widest possible audience.

I also loved that this book although historical and full of facts it doesn't read like an overly academic work and appeals to the public. The scents aim to take the visitor on a journey, including: a malodorous representation of the New York Tenements, and a scent titled the Dangers of the Fairground, inspired by Coney Island. This book contains some great analysis of the social and individual forces that sometimes motivated these crimes, from poverty and mistreatment to material gain and revenge.

He didn't know or didn't want to know her crime, admitting in his letter of 11 April 1892, "I know not the cause of her misfortune". Listen to how the discrimination and prejudice experienced by the Irish over 150 years ago has similar echoes in today’s society.