Wilkes-Barre, Pa.— Irish social historian Breandán Mac Suibhne of the University of Galway will visit King’s College on Jan. 25, 2024, to give a lecture on Irish migration to Northeastern Pennsylvania during the annual Msgr. John J. Curran Lecture.
The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place at 7:00 p.m. in the Burke Auditorium located on the first floor of the McGowan School of Business. Refreshments will be served. Visitors can park in lots off the circle accessed from N. Franklin St.
The lecture, “From the Potato Patch to the Mine Patch: The Irish of Northeastern Pennsylvania, c. 1820-1920,” will explore the origins of Irish migration to the coalfields of Northeastern Pennsylvania, with a particular focus on the high rate of migration from the Derry, Donegal, and Tyrone areas of Northwestern Ireland.
Mac Suibhne is a historian at the University of Galway. He has written extensively on Ireland’s Great Famine, including “The End of Outrage,” and “Subjects Lacking Words? The Gray Zone of Ireland’s Great Famine.” He and David Dickson edited Hugh Dorian’s “The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Nineteenth-Century Donegal,” an extensive lower-class account of that crisis.
As part of the evening’s events, the Anthracite Book Award will be presented to Phillip Mosley, Ph.D., of Penn State University-Scranton, for his book, “Telling of the Anthracite: A Pennsylvania Posthistory,” which was featured at last year’s event.
King’s College hosts the Anthracite Heritage Foundation (AHF)’s annual public program, the Msgr. John J. Curran Lecture, as part of Anthracite Heritage Month, which educates students and the public about the history of anthracite coal miners in the region.
The evening includes welcome remarks from Rev. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C., Ph.D., president of King’s College, and Bob Wolensky, Ph.D, King’s College professor and member of the Anthracite Heritage Foundation. The lecture will be moderated by Thomas Mackaman, Ph.D., of the King’s College History Department. The program is sponsored by the AHF and the King’s College McGowan Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility.