Pop-up museum opens celebrating Leitrim women’s lives and stories

A unique pop-up museum is being held in Leitrim this month, focusing on the histories and experiences of rural women from the county.

The pop-up museum is being hosted by Leitrim Sculpture Centre and was created by the Leitrim Women Through Time project, a collaborative heritage initiative by the North Leitrim Women’s Centre and Scéal Heritage Consultancy.

This temporary museum of women’s history includes the display of a travelling museum exhibition exploring Leitrim women’s lives between 1850 and 1950, accompanied by a large collection of objects from rural women’s history - with examples from women’s work inside and outside the home, women’s craft, and women’s personal lives. 

The Museum also includes the travelling exhibition “Leitrim Women Through Time: Voices from the Factory Floor,” which looks at women's experiences of factory work in the county between 1930 and 2000. Accompanying the exhibition is an associated project film, where people can hear the voices and experiences of the female workers first-hand.

The Museum encourages people to share stories and memories of ordinary rural women for preservation in the “Leitrim Women Through Time” project archive, and demonstrates the value in recording these often-overlooked voices and experiences. 

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The project focuses on the lives of the ordinary Leitrim woman; celebrating the majority, rather than the minority, and those previously neglected in history. It concentrates on the experience of the everyday woman – highlighting the value of remembering and recording what domestic, working, and personal life was like for local women.

Leitrim Women Through Time was established in 2022 and explores and shares stories and memories of the everyday lives of women in County Leitrim, both in the recent and distant past. It is a unique heritage initiative that records and celebrates the stories of everyday rural women long neglected by history.

In 2023, the project created Leitrim’s first Pop-up Women’s Museum, which mobilises and promotes the histories and experiences of rural women from the county for an inclusive public audience.

All are very welcome to visit the free Pop-up Museum, which is running at the Leitrim Sculpture Centre in Manorhamilton until the end of February.

The centre is open from 11am to 4pm, Wednesday to Sunday. Further information on the “Leitrim Women Through Time” project is available on Facebook or by contacting the North Leitrim Women’s Centre on 071 9856220.

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