MUSEUM TALK TO EXAMINE CHANGING FACE OF DERRY

As part of the Council led series, archivist Kirsty Osborn will be looking at the built heritage of the city through the Museum archive’s unique collection of architectural drawings.

The fascinating collection contains highly detailed, sometimes beautiful, works of art in their own right including hand-drawn plans of the many significant buildings and public amenities in the city; factories and premises now long gone; streets of private and subsidised residences; schools, churches, warehouses, markets and infrastructure.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District, Councillor Elisha McCallion, said: “The ‘What’s in the Archive’ series has been extremely successful in bringing to light some of the most fascinating artefacts hidden within the Council’s collections.

“There’s been a great turn out for all the events to date and the talks have really been fuelling the appetite for local history. I would highly recommend going along to hear more about the factors influencing the evolution of the city down through the years.”

Archivist Kirsty Osborn has been charting the city’s development through to the present day.

“The drawings at the centre of the talk will help us explore the changing face of the city, particularly as it experienced rapid growth and development from the 1860s onwards with the advance of the shirt factories and the shipping trade,” she explained.

“We’ll look at how Derry expanded beyond the Walls into the suburbs, across the River Foyle and in to the Waterside.

“This talk will open up our archives for public viewing and look at how we went about digitising the collection to make them accessible to the public with an exhibition, catalogue and website.”

If you are interested in the history of the city, its built heritage, or how archives work with their collections come along to the Tower Museum, Tuesday 26^th April, at 12:30pm.

The talks are free and you can secure a place by contacting [email protected].