2-798-618 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Opening of the Cork Temperance Institute, 1845. A dance at an Irish temperance club, part of a social movement against the consumption of alcohol. 'The object of the Institution...[was to be]...the literary as well as moral improvement of a large number of highly respectable young men...a portion of the earnings of the week was to be set apart for the reading of Essays written by members, and to Discussions on Music, and the other branches of the Fine Arts. There are to be added to the Establisment, rooms for Chess, Draughts, &c.; and, when the funds will allow the outlay, astronomical and other instruments for scientific purposes. As a commencement of the good work, the President has, in the handsomest manner, presented to the Institution several volumes of books, to form the nucleus of a library'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.