It could have worked well except the contractor decided to cut costs and maximise profits by deploying just two carts rather than six. Dung piled up and the city stank. This upset everyone save the scavenger, who pocketed enough cash to set herself up as a money lender. Her name was Katherine Strong.
In 1635, the city fired her, ending an intriguing if inglorious career in public service. And then, like so many women of her era, Strong vanished into history, her entrepreneurship, creditable or otherwise, barely scraping a footnote in Irish chronicles written by men about men.
Trinity College Dublin aims to remedy that with an ambitious research project launched this week that will use artificial intelligence and other digital technologies to uncover women's experiences in Ireland from 1500 to 1700.
Jane Ohlmeyer, a history professor who is leading the project Voices, said: "Women are largely absent from historical narratives, with the historical record privileging the perspectives of elites and elite men.
This story is from the April 11, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 11, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Ruined town re-emerges as Philippines dam dries up
Ruins of a centuries-old town have emerged at a dam parched by drought in the northern Philippines.
"This was a crisis': Hope Hicks tells of panic over Trump recording at hush money trial
Hope Hicks, Donald Trump's 2016 campaign secretary, described the former US president's staffers' panic when a recording emerged in which he had bragged about groping women, saying \"this was a crisis\" for his presidential campaign, as she took the witness stand yesterday in Trump's criminal hush money trial.
'Jews need to fight back' Shock and sadness in Israel at overseas protests
At the Jerusalem theatre, concertgoers and staff expressed a mixture of anger, sadness and defiance as weeks of proPalestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses reached a tumultuous climax 6,000 miles away.
Tenants should be given the 'right to garden', says leading horticulturalist
Developers and landlords should give tenants a \"right to garden\", a leading horticulturalist has said, as part of a campaign for more green spaces in new-build homes.
Last rites? Decline in vulture numbers forces Parsis to adapt burial practices
Traditional Zoroastrian burial rites are becoming impossible to perform because of the decline of vultures in India, Iran and Pakistan.
In Plato's words How AI is helping to reveal the secrets of ancient scrolls
More than 2,000 years after he died, Plato, the towering figure of classical antiquity and founder of the Academy, still makes the news.
Boy convicted of murder after stabbing near primary school
A 15-year-old boy who stabbed another teenager through the heart on the way home from school was found guilty of murder yesterday.
Super-rich spending up to £400,000 on Paris Olympics packages
Members of the global super-rich are spending as much as $500,000 (£400,000) on \"ultra exclusive\" packages for the Paris 2024 Olympics that promoters claim include meeting athletes, access to the athletes' village, and \"the chance to be part of the opening ceremony\".
Boost for travel agents as Race Across the World grips viewers
No celebrities, no luxuries, and a miserly £20,000 in prize money.
Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters becomes latest film to bring in cultural consultants
Film and TV productions are turning to a growing number of \"cultural consultants\" to help them navigate the choppy waters of sensitivities around ethnicity and faith.
