Book Talk: “Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York”
Tuesday, May 21, 6:30pm
At Church of St. Mary, 440 Grand Street
Directions: 440 Grand Street between Clinton Street and Pitt Street. Entry to event space is down the ramp at the righthand corner (east side) of the church.
Sponsored by: Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, Cuala Foundation, Art Loisaida Foundation, New York Irish Center, and Church of St. Mary
This illustrated book talk is an IN PERSON event, Free
Space is limited: Registration is required. See below for registration information.
About the Book
In this extraordinary work of storytelling and scholarship, author Tyler Anbinder explores the fate of Irish immigrants who fled to New York because of the Potato Famine. Beginning in 1845, the famine killed a million men, women and children, while over a million more left for America. By 1855, roughly a third of all adults living in Manhattan were immigrants who escaped the famine—many settling in neighborhoods of the Lower East Side. Upon arrival, they were consigned to the lowest-paying jobs and subject to discrimination and ridicule. But their lives were not dominated by destitution and despair. Their true stories reflect not only struggle, but also perseverance, and eventual triumph.
About the Author
Prize-winning author, Tyler Anbinder, specializes in the history of New York City, American immigration, and the Civil War. His books include Five Points: The Nineteenth-Century New York Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World’s Most Notorious Slum, and City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York. He was a professor of history at George Washington University for 30 years before retiring in 2020.
Buy the Book
Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at the event. Copies are also available at local bookstores such as Strand.
About the Sponsors
Lower East Side Preservation Initiative — LESPI — is a not-for-profit organization formed in 2007, dedicated to the preservation of the historic buildings and streetscapes of the traditional Lower East Side, which includes the East Village, LES below Houston Street, Chinatown, Little Italy and the Bowery.
Cuala Foundation celebrates culture to empower communities and build belonging on the Lower East Side and in Ireland. We launched the Lower East Side Book Festival in 2023, and other projects include the concert series Lower East Side Women’s Voices, free community classes in Bomba (the Puerto Rican dance of empowerment and resistance) and the Riis Houses Community Celebration with Al Diaz.
Art Loisaida Foundation is an arts and cultural organization based in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. We seek to expand the venues for local artists from our vibrant eclectic community and to improve access to local venues. We advocate for the arts and artists, seeking to provide opportunities for artists to ply their trade and sell their work by promoting visual arts exhibits, multidisciplinary performance, art slams, and children’s art classes.
New York Irish Center — based in Long Island City, the mission of theNew York Irish Centeris to share Ireland’s culture and foster collaboration between people of all heritages through social services, cultural and educational programs.
Church of St. Mary — Today a multi-ethnic Catholic congregation, the Church of St. Mary was founded for Irish immigrants in 1826, nearly 200 years ago. The present church on Grand Street opened in 1833 and is the second oldest Roman Catholic Church building in New York, after St. Patrick’s on Mott Street. Its current façade was constructed during an 1871 renovation.
Registration is required; register HERE.
The program is free, DONATIONS are welcome to help cover costs.
This event is being held in celebration of Lower East Side History Month.
Contact info@LESPI-nyc.org with any questions. Thank you.
Past Live Events
For past Zoom webinars and meetings, see LESPI’s YouTube Channel and/or the list of videos below.
Watch videos of these past LESPI webinar events at LESPI’s YouTube Channel, below is a sampling:
- “To Fight for the Poor with My Pen: Zoe Anderson Norris, Queen of Bohemia” presented by Eve M. Kahn.
- “Kleindeutschland: Little Germany on the Lower East Side” presented by Richard Haberstroh.
- “Transformative Architecture: C.B.J. Snyder and NYC Public Schools” presented by Cynthia Skeffington LaValle (C.B.J. Snyder’s great granddaughter) and Michael Janoska.
- “Celebrating and Saving our Neighborhood Culture” a panel discussion with NYC Councilmember Christopher Marte, Andrew Berman, Molly Garfinkel, Yin Kong, and Frampton Tolbert.
- “The East Village’s Christodora Settlement House: Community, Relationships, and Social Change” presented by Joyce Milambiling.
- “A Conversation with Michael Henry Adams”
- “Before and Behind the Curtain: A History of 19th Century Theaters in the Lower East Side” presented by Ralph Lewis of of Peculiar Works Project.
- “LGBT History of the Lower East Side” presented Ken Lustbader and Jay Shockley of NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
- “The Construction of Grace Church in New York: A History through Documents” presented by Karin Dauch and Andy Carrigan of Saving Grace.
- “Greek Independence and the Lower East Side” presented by Marcia Haddad-Ikonomopoulos, Museum Director of Kehila Kedosha Janina.
- “Jarmulowsky Bank Building: The Resurrection of a Lower East Side Landmark” presented by Architect Ron Castellano, Principal of Studio Castellano Architect, P.C., and Architectural Historian Kerri Culhane.
- “A Celebration of the Life and Work of Corky Lee” featuring talks by photographers Karen Zhou, Edward Cheng and Jook Leung.