First National Eisteddfod held in Aberdare, Wales. The Eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of music and literature. Although there would be a few changes in the decades to follow, this began the annual national event that continues today.

Image: A newspaper story on the first National Eisteddfod. Published in The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian (Saturday, August 24, 1861). This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired. Courtesy of The National Library of Wales: https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3092777/3092785/46/LIVERPOOL

Articles

Matthew Jones, “On Nineteenth-Century Welsh Literacies, and the ‘Blue Book’ Education Reports of 1847”