Publications
Journal Articles:
- ‘Made in Ireland’? National Narratives and Hybrid Identities in Irish Design History’, Writing Visual Culture, Volume 8, December 2017. Direct Link: http://www.herts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/187573/8_OBRIEN_MADE_IN_IRELAND_WVC8_2017_Final.pdf
Book Chapters:
- ‘Brown Bread and Washing Machines: Nostalgia and Perspective in Irish Women’s Experiences
of Rural Electrification’ in Abigail Harrison Moore & Ruth Sandwell (eds.) In A New Light:
Histories of Women and Energy, 1800-1990, Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2021.
Conference Papers and Invited Talks:
- “The Light of Heaven to Our Souls’: Domestic Electrical Appliances in Rural Irish Kitchens of the 1950s and 1960s’, Society of Architectural Historians 75th Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, April/May 2022
- ‘Kitchen Power: Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification’, invited talk to BA Home Economics, St. Angela’s College, online, March 2022
- “The Light of Heaven to Our Souls’: Rural Electrification and Domestic Light in Ireland’, Light Switch online symposium, Science Gallery Dublin, November 2020
- ‘Kitchen Power: Modernity, Tradition and Gender Roles During Irish Rural Electrification’, Kitchen Power: National Parallels online symposium, September 2020
- ‘Kitchen Power: Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification’, public lecture, Roscommon County Council, September 2019
- ‘Kitchen Promises: Aspiration and Reality during Irish Rural Electrification’, Modernism in the Home, Birmingham, online presentation, July 2019
- ‘Kitchen Power: Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification’, invited talk to BA Fashion and Textiles students, NCAD, Dublin, October 2019
- ‘Kitchen Power: Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification’, Institution of Engineering and Technology Conference on the History of Technology, Dublin, September 2019
- ‘Kitchen Power: Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification’, Roscommon County Council Offices, Roscommon, September 2019
- ‘Kitchen Power: Beyond the Cabinet Door’ curator’s talk with Noel Campbell, National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, Mayo, August 2019
- ‘Kitchen Power: Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification’, Modernism in the Home conference, University of Birmingham, June 2019
- ‘Kitchen Power: Women’s Experiences of Rural Electrification’, Electric Irish Homes textile art showcase, National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, Castlebar, May 2019
- ‘Kitchen Promises: Keeping Country Girls at Home with Rural Electrification’, Dublin One City One Book, Rathfarnham Castle, April 2019
- ‘Kitchen Promises: Oral History’ talk to the Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Oral History, Dublin City Libraries, March 2019
- ‘Kitchen Promises: Rural Electrification in 1950s and 1960s Ireland’, Working for the Home symposium, Trinity College Dublin, February 2019
- ‘Kitchen Promises: Researching Housewives, Electrical Products and Domesticity in 1950s and 1960s Rural Ireland’, invited research seminar, Trinity College Dublin Centre for Contemporary Irish History, November 2018
- ‘Electrical Demonstrators and Irish Countrywomen: Official and Voluntary Promotion of Irish Rural Electrification’, Material & Consumer Culture network, ESSCH conference, Belfast, April 2018
- Real World Engagement talk on research as a career, BA Contemporary Visual Culture, Dublin Institute of Technology, March 2018
- ‘Using Oral History to Study 1950s and 1960s Ireland’, TVAD Research Talk, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, February 2018
- ‘Made in Ireland’? National Narratives and Transnational Networks in Irish Design History’, Design History Society annual conference, Making and Unmaking the Environment, Oslo, September 2017
- Electric Irish Homes: Age & Opportunity Arts & Culture workshop, as part of an Age & Opportunity taster day at An Grianán, Termonfeckin, Co. Louth, September 2017
- ‘Brown Bread and Washing Machines: Nostalgia and Perspective in Irish Women’s Experience of Rural Electrification’, Oral History Network of Ireland, Galway, June 2017
- ‘Oral Histories in Research’, at ‘Domesticating Energy’, Material Cultures of Energy AHRC project workshop, University of Cambridge, June 2017
- Research Week presentation, Kingston School of Art Research Institute, London, April 2017
- ‘Electric Irish Homes: Researching Housewives, Electrical Products and Domesticity in 1950s and 1960s Rural Ireland’, V&A/RCA History of Design Spring Research Seminar, Royal College of Art, London, March 2017
- ‘Shining Clean Machines: The Promotion of Vacuum Cleaners in 1950s and 1960s Ireland’, Mise Éire: Shaping a Nation Through Design, National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts, Dublin, November 2016
- ‘‘Look what Santa’s Brought for You, Mummy’: Women, Domesticity and the Vacuum Cleaner in 1950s and 1960s Ireland’, Historical Geographies of Home session at the 16th International Conference of Historical Geographers, London, July 2016
- ‘‘Look what Santa’s Brought for You, Mummy’: Women, Domesticity and the Vacuum Cleaner in 1950s and 1960s Ireland’, Irish Women and Rural Society: From Medieval to Modern, Women’s History Association of Ireland annual conference, Queen’s University Belfast, March 2016
Online Material:
- Exhibition sheds light on women’s experiences in the era of mass introduction of electricity to rural homes in Ireland, Kingston University London, August 2019. Link: https://www.kingston.ac.uk/news/article/2232/07-aug-2019-exhibition-sheds-light-on-womens-experiences-in-the-era-of-mass-introduction-of-electricity-to/
- Sorcha O’Brien awarded AHRC Leadership Fellowship, FADA Kingston University, April 2016. Link: http://fada.kingston.ac.uk/news/lecturer-sorcha-obrien-awarded-ahrc-leadership-fellowship/
- Design History Society Research Travel Grant Report – Siemens Archive Munich, Design History Society, May 2016. Link: http://www.designhistorysociety.org/blog/view/siemens-archive-munich-travel-report
- Dr. Sorcha O’Brien wins research grant for the study of domestic appliances, FADA Kingston University, May 2015. Link: http://fada.kingston.ac.uk/news/dr-sorcha-obrien-wins-research-grant-for-the-study-of-domestic-appliances/
Television and Radio
- Interview, The Way We Were, Episode 2: At Home, RTÉ One, March 2022
- Respondent, Davis Now lecture by Ellen Rowley, RTÉ Radio 1, January 2020
- Interview for the Egg Money documentary on women in rural Ireland, Newstalk FM, November 2019
- Television interviews for RTÉ One News and Six One News, RTÉ 1, July 2019
- Radio interviews for Morning Ireland, RTÉ Radio 1, Culture File, RTÉ Lyric FM, Midwest Radio and Castlebar Community Radio, July 2019