Thomas Paine and 'Rights of Man'
Thomas Paine, a staymaker's son, was born in 1737 in the small country town of Thetford in Norfolk. He attended the local school until he was twelve and left...
A guest exhibition about Sylvia Pankhurst and her companion, Silvio Corio, illustrating the lifelong activities of this couple in spearheading campaigns centred on social justice, human rights and anti-fascism. Silvio was an Italian revolutionary who arrived in London in 1900 after fleeing his country having been involved in anarchist......
James Clarke talks about his debut novel, set during the miners’ strike, and which tells the story of one mining family from the eve of the vote to strike in March 1984 to November of that painful year. This is part of the series of Invisible Histories talks. Admission......
200 years ago in St Peter’s Field a crowd calling for electoral reform was attacked by the Manchester & Salford Yeomanry, an event that has become known as Peterloo. This exhibition explores the historical context, the prevailing paranoia and the reactions of the establishment, utilising the Library’s extensive Peterloo......
Returning by popular demand, this Townsend Productions show is based on the famous book by Robert Tressell. Neil Gore brings this witty, humorous and absorbing classic book to life in his one-man Magic Lantern show. It features political conjuring, music and songs echoing life in the building trades of......
We mark the 35th anniversary of the Battle of Orgreave with a showing of Strata, a two-screen, 40 minute film by artists Jacob Cartwright and Nick Jordan. The documentary explores the cultural, industrial and natural histories underpinning the former coal-mining region of Barnsley, and comparable locations across Europe. Focussing......
On 12 August 1842, just 23 years after the Peterloo Massacre, Lancashire cotton workers again marched in protest at appalling pay and conditions. Reaching Preston’s Lune Street, the protestors were confronted by the authorities and read the Riot Act. By 13 August seven men had been shot and four......
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