The next lecture in the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society spring series is entitled Les Modes Modernes: the Galway hat factory, 1937-1972.
It takes place in the Harbour Hotel at 8 pm on Monday, April 13, and the speaker is Mary Cunningham.
The illustrated lecture will trace the history of the industry, established in Bohermore in the late 1930s by Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. It focuses on the experiences of former workers interviewed for the research, who recall social relations in the factory, as well as the working conditions and manufacturing processes.
This oral history is complemented by memoirs and a range of other sources. The challenges faced by the Jewish exiles will also be discussed, along with the personal trials they endured.
Fianna Fáil’s protectionist policies were responsible for the establishment of millinery industries in Galway, and elsewhere in the west, but changes in policy in the 1960s, together with changes in fashion, created difficulties which would lead to the closure of Les Modes Modernes in 1972.
The speaker, Mary Cunningham is a former school principal. She has been researching and producing documentaries for her Recording Galway website, including several broadcast on Galway Bay FM. She has worked as a researcher on the Tuam Oral History Project and is co-producer of a podcast series on the experiences of survivors of the Tuam Mother and Baby institution, which is included in the Junior Cert curriculum.
See www.GAHS.ie
