The Lantern Lecture is inspired by an archival leaflet held in the Newham Archives, from 1936 detailing a programme of ‘Popular Lantern Lectures’ to be given at Manor Park Library. The idea chimed with our interest in self-education and how libraries were and still are important places for people to learn and educate themselves outside of the formal system.

The inaugural lecture took place at Rabbits Road Institute in January 2017 and was given by Shami Chakrabarti CBE, barrister, human rights campaigner, Labour politician and Shadow Attorney General. Her lecture ‘Libraries and Society’ addressed her convictions about the importance of libraries and their relationship to freedom and mutual understanding.