The place of history, literature and politics in the 1911 Scottish Exhibition

Neil G. W. Curtis

The place of history, literature and politics in the 1911 Scottish Exhibition

Museums & Special Collections

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Abstract

The 1911 Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry in Glasgow was one of the most successful events of its kind, attracting over nine million visits and resulting in profits which were used to endow a chair in Scottish History in the University of Glasgow. Alongside a popular entertainment section, it included a reconstruction of a Highland village and a Palace of History which housed thousands of items borrowed from public and private collections throughout Scotland. A number of historical aspects were highlighted, notably the importance of Protestant Christianity, the 1707 Acts of Union, commerce, aristocracy and great men, whereas the history of the Highlands, Catholicism, the working class and Scotland’s relationships with Ireland were ignored. The influence of Sir Walter Scott was profound, with the ‘Great Literary Period’ of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries providing the main narrative and marking the end of a distinctive Scottish history. The topics selected for the Exhibition are shown to relate to the political concerns of its organisers, a group of Conservatives who hoped to demonstrate that the importance of Scottish history lay in establishing Scotland as an equal partner with England in the development of a Protestant British Empire.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	43-74
Number of pages	32
Journal	Scottish Literary Review
Volume	7
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - 2015

Bibliographical note

This paper originally grew out of a presentation I was encouraged to give by Charles Hunt at the University Museums in Scotland 1998 conference ‘The Role of Collections in the Scottish Intellectual Tradition’. Since then, I have been helped by many other people, notably Hayden Lorimer, John Morrison, the late Graham Ritchie, the staff of the Glasgow Room, Mitchell Library and Andrew Martin of the National Museums of Scotland Library. Main thanks, however, go to my family: to Elizabeth Curtis for invaluable encouragement and discussion and to Eric and Mary Curtis for their enthusiastic help in finding many valuable sources as well as leading me to an interest in Glasgow’s history.

Keywords

1911 Scottish exhibition
Kelvingrove
Scottish history
Glasgow
Walter Scott
protestant
Protestantism
Unionism
Highlands
Ireland
British Empire

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https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/582219.

Cite this

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title = "The place of history, literature and politics in the 1911 Scottish Exhibition",

abstract = "The 1911 Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry in Glasgow was one of the most successful events of its kind, attracting over nine million visits and resulting in profits which were used to endow a chair in Scottish History in the University of Glasgow. Alongside a popular entertainment section, it included a reconstruction of a Highland village and a Palace of History which housed thousands of items borrowed from public and private collections throughout Scotland. A number of historical aspects were highlighted, notably the importance of Protestant Christianity, the 1707 Acts of Union, commerce, aristocracy and great men, whereas the history of the Highlands, Catholicism, the working class and Scotland{\textquoteright}s relationships with Ireland were ignored. The influence of Sir Walter Scott was profound, with the {\textquoteleft}Great Literary Period{\textquoteright} of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries providing the main narrative and marking the end of a distinctive Scottish history. The topics selected for the Exhibition are shown to relate to the political concerns of its organisers, a group of Conservatives who hoped to demonstrate that the importance of Scottish history lay in establishing Scotland as an equal partner with England in the development of a Protestant British Empire.",

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The place of history, literature and politics in the 1911 Scottish Exhibition

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Cite this