Centre for Scottish Culture Blog

Patronage and ‘the general taste for Portrait’: David Allan and the Erskine of Torrie Portrait

  In this guest post, Dr Nel Whiting takes a look at the role of gender in shaping the portraiture of David Allan (1744-96), specifically in his family portrait of the Erskines of Torrie. Follow Nel on Twitter at @nel_whiting   Historical portraits are more than likenesses of people from the past; they are artful

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Spring Poets and Public Parks

  In this guest post, Dr Erin Farley explores how the popular ‘spring poetry’ of 19th-century Dundee celebrated the freeing, invigorating effect of the city’s public parks. Follow Erin on Twitter at @aliasmacalias   For many city residents, especially those in flats or tenements with no garden, our local park has become an essential respite

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Charles Maitland, Overlooked Pioneer of Smallpox Inoculation

  Sylvia Valentine is a professional genealogist who is also completing a PhD at the University of Dundee. Her thesis explores opposition to compulsory smallpox vaccination in 19th and early 20th– century Scotland. Follow Sylvia on Twitter at @historylady2013   One of the least recognised figures in the history of smallpox prevention is Aberdonian Charles

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Torture in Early Modern Scotland

  Dr Allan Kennedy explores ideas and practice around the use of judicial torture in early modern Scotland.  Follow Allan on Twitter at: @Allan_D_Kennedy    When we discuss crime and punishment in the past, we often instinctively think about torture. Grisly images of broken, brutalised bodies worm their way into our imaginations, especially when we’re thinking

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The Scottish Privy Council, 1692-1708

  The Centre for Scottish Culture has partnered with the University of Stirling for a major, three-year research project entitled ‘The Scottish Privy Council, 1692-1708: Government from Revolution to Union’.   Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, the Scottish Privy Council Project will research one of the most important institutional branches of Scottish government in the

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Marking Conscientious Objectors Awareness Week in Dundee: 18th & 19th May 2018

Great War Dundee and Abertay Historical Society are marking Conscientious Objectors Week with a series of collaborative events, which will take place on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th May. These are free and open to all. Click here to download the full programme. Highlights include: Abertay Historical Society & Great War Dundee Evening Lecture Cyril Pearce

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What has 17th-century printing got to do with pie? 21st-Century Book Historian: Printing

This guest post comes from Suzanne Black, second-year PhD candidate in English literature at the University of Edinburgh, who attended a recent event in our 21st-Century Book Historian series. The series is a collaboration between the Universities of Edinburgh, Stirling and Dundee which provides PhD students with hands-on training in the History of Printing, Publishing and

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Writings from Scotland Before the Union

Now in its second year, Writings from Scotland Before the Unionis a one-day conference, hosted by the Centre for Scottish Culture at the University of Dundee, which seeks to further understand how Scotland saw herself in literary terms before formal union in 1707. Registration opens at 09:30 on April 21st in the Baxter Suite in the

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Who were the Jacobites and what did they want for Scotland? Inaugural History Scotland Lecture 24 April 2018 from 6:30pm

The inaugural entry in The History Scotland Lectures was a debate between Professor Murray Pittock (University of Glasgow) and Professor Christopher Whatley (University of Dundee) on ‘Who were the Jacobites and what did they want for Scotland?’. Professors Whatley and Pittock are two of Scotland’s leading experts on the 18th century, and in this debate

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Culture In Scotland – Who Is Missing? 24 March 2018, Verdant Works

Imagination: Scotland’s Festival of Ideas: Culture in Challenging Times Spring/Summer Talks Season Culture In Scotland – Who Is Missing? Come and join us in the first of a series of discussions undertaken by Imagination: Scotland’s Festival of Ideas looking at culture in constraining, challenging times. This event examines who and what is missing from culture

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