Historical Society to open Irish exhibit

Irish culture and its connection to Lorain will be showcased this year starting March 2.

For the Lorain Historical Society’s annually rotating International Festival Spotlight Nationality exhibit, Irish culture and its connection to Lorain will be showcased this year starting March 2.

“The exhibit kind of has two purposes: it talks about elements of Irish culture in general, and then it also kind of highlights the Irish experience in Lorain,” said Jillien Zudell, program manager at the Lorain Historical Society.

This is the second year the Historical Society has featured a specific culture for the exhibit, last year being the Puerto Rican community, Zudell said.

“We’re really celebrating the diversity of the city,” she said. “Our hope is to continue it every year.”

Besides the exhibit’s photos of St. Mary’s Church, all artifacts and items on display were loaned to the Historical Society by residents or were part of the group’s research efforts.

Items including a Guinness glass, fine home goods, photographs of local events and cultural groups and traditional dresses are up for viewing.

Some cultural artifacts like wool worn by Irish fishermen specifically were tailored to familial standards.

“The wool is really good because it kept the water and the wetness and the dampness out, but kept the warmth in,” Zudell said. “And so, fishermen and just everyday people would stay nice and warm.”

Each family created its own specific cable-knit pattern in order to identify fishermen lost at sea by their sweaters.

“It’s a little morbid, but then people would wear their family’s patterns just as a sense of identity and family community,” Zudell said.

The exhibit will run through Sept. 2.

JORDANA JOY —THE MORNING JOURNAL Lorain Historical Society program manager Jillien Zudell shows the new Lorain International Festival Nationality exhibit featuring Irish culture and its connection to Lorain. The exhibit opens March 2at the Carnegie Center, 329W. 10th St. in Lorain.