Rags & Recycling
The story of how the poorest in Irish society survived during the c18th, shows extreme resourcefulness and thrift. Recycling encompassed everything from broken glass to clothing, shoes and rabbit skins, with barter to avoid a shortage of coins. Gold thread from aristocrats’ clothing was re-melted and recast, and linen rags were collected to underpin Ireland’s fledgling paper industry. Combining early artists’ images with descriptions and photographs of actual objects, the names and faces of such workers are now better understood. This research resulted from my Royal Dublin Society Library and Archives Bursary, 2018.
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