Description

[004873] [Alnwick Mechanics’ Institute] Alnwick Mechanics’ Institute Ephemera. Alnwick: H. H. Blair, First Edition. Various. Unbound. Ephemera. Good. Four pieces of ephemera and three photographs relating to the Alnwick Mechanics’ Institute, dated between 1869 and 1878

All are lightly worn, with evidence of being removed from a scrapbook, one of the photographs has a small surface abrasion and tear, leading to slight loss of image towards lower right hand corner

The ephemera includes a broadside dated 1869, with list of prize winners for various subjects, including chemistry, art, and mathematics; two handbills about the fiftieth and fifty-fourth anniversary of the Institute; and a handbill about an extension to the building as the class sizes have grown, with a list of subscribers. The three photographs are probably c.1874, and probably show the interior of the building during the fiftieth anniversary exhibition

The building still stands, is now a Grade 2 listed building, and is possibly the oldest surviving purpose-built Mechanics’ Institute

Though famously dismissed by Engels in The Condition of the Working Class in England as where “all education is tame, flabby, subservient to the ruling politics and religion, so that for the working-man it is merely a constant sermon upon quiet obedience, passivity, and resignation to his fate”, the Mechanics’ Institutes did provide an introduction to education for many who otherwise would not have had any access