Professor Jim Walsh, Maynooth University, will give an illustrated lecture Maps Rather Than Tractor Parts – Horses to Tractors – the spread of a revolutionary innovation in farming in Ireland, 1917 to 1991
The lecture will trace the development of tractors in North America in the late nineteenth century and their transfer to Great Britain and Ireland. The main focus will be on mapping and interpreting the spread of tractors across the country as part of the transition from farming as a lifestyle reliant on horses and many farm workers to one that became business-like with a heavy dependence on technology and a drastically reduced input of labour.
Professor Jim Walsh
National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA)
Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute (MUSSI)