This is a blog about four men, footballer Gil Heron (1922-2008), his son the musician Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011), publisher Jamie Byng (1969-) and TV executive and football pundit Stuart Cosgrove (1952-). These men’s lives and the points where they crossed over tells us something about Scotland and its relationship with African-American culture over the last […]
Category: 20th-century items
Brigid Brophy takes an axe and gives English literature fifty whacks
The Library of St John’s College, Oxford used to be home to an edition of Spenser’s “The Faerie Queen” in which a discontented undergraduate had written his opinion of the books that he was obliged to read for his course. “First I thought Troilus and Criseyde was the most boring poem in English. Then I […]
Maps with a sense of the past: what are synthetic maps, and why do we love them?
by Chris Fleet, Zekun Li, Katie McDonough, and Valeria Vitale. Maps are excellent documentary sources for understanding the history of the landscape, including past human activities and former physical environments. Many organizations have scanned tens of thousands of historical maps and shared them online. For example, the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Collection scanned by the […]
Zoom into Glasgow City
Collated by Jamie McIntosh. The final local authority area of our current Zoom Into series takes us to Glasgow, Scotland’s most populous city. Glasgow is situated in the west of the central belt area of the lowlands, and its city centre is dominated by the River Clyde. Glasgow’s position provides easy access to the greenery of the Loch […]
Zoom Into Edinburgh City
What do you think of when you think of the city of Edinburgh? Perhaps the ancient castle looming over the city from Castle Rock. Or the plethora of festivals that take place in the city’s streets every year. Maybe you know Scotland’s capital city best as the seat of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. But what else has taken place within […]
Zoom into Fife
Collated by Peter Findlay. Aince a muckle pairt o Scotland’s industrial hertlaund, I recently heard “Fife” cried, “Scotland’s enchanting kingdom.” Ye micht be gast frae this nameliheid, hooiver, juist hae anither keek at this region afore makin judgement. For at truly is a pairt o oor country, whaur baith Fifers and veesitors alike, can gang on a byous an timeless journey o discovery. Believe me, […]
Zoom into North Lanarkshire
Collated by Charlotte James Robertson.North Lanarkshire borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow’s commuter towns. The South of the county has its roots in the historic county of Lanarkshire, which has existed since the time of King David I, ruler of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. In the 18th […]
Zoom into Aberdeenshire
Collated by Alison Leslie. Modern Aberdeenshire encompasses historic Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire and part of Banffshire. To the south it borders Angus and Perth & Kinross, to the west Highland and Moray, and to the east Aberdeen City.
The Puzzle of the Paisley Pensioners
This short blog uncovers the story of Anchor Pensioners 1965, a recent addition to the moving image catalogue, and illustrates how public engagement is key to understanding some of the unique archival material in the Library’s collections. The film came in to the archive a few years ago as a consequence of a house move. […]
Zoom into Highland
Collated by Lucy Church. The Highland Council unitary authority is the largest by area in the UK, covering a third of Scotland’s land area, and 11% of the UK’s. Although it is the 7th largest council in Scotland by population, it has the lowest population density in the country. Its administrative centre is Inverness, but there […]