As the flood of Irish immigrants reached America, they faced another challenge—how to fit in to this new nation.  One of the many adjustments these mostly rural Irish made was to manipulate their appearances to conform to the style of the new land.  This manipulation is the subject of the Irish Cultural Society meeting on December 9.  The meeting will adjourn at 7:30 p.m. in the Garden City Library, 60 Seventh Street, across the street from the Garden City Hotel.  The meeting is free and open to the public.

The speaker will be Dr. Meredith Linn, a historical archeologist and an Assistant Professor in Barnard’s Urban Studies Program.  Her talk will focus particularly upon how some Irish immigrants in NYC utilized cosmetic hair preparations to style new urban Irish American identities.  Dr. Linn holds a B.A. degree from Swarthmore College, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University.  Her dissertation will soon be published as a book.  Dr. Linn has published articles in Historical Archeology and in Papers from the Institute of Archeology.  She is also a member of the Seneca Valley Project team studying the Irish and African-American community that existed in what is now Central Park.