Samantha Hunter is a first-year PhD researcher at the University of Dundee, exploring governance and control in seventeenth-century Scotland. In this guest post, she discusses early modern expectations of church attendance, and asks when, and for what reasons, certain people might have been excused from attending. Follow Samantha on Twitter at @sam_hunter95 It
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Category Archives: History
Dr Allan Kennedy explores what life was like for the Scottish women who made their homes in London during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Follow Allan on Twitter at: @Allan_D_Kennedy Since 2018, I, in collaboration with Professor Keith Brown (University of Manchester) and Dr Siobhan Talbott (Keele University), have published a series of
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
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
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
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
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
Recent Blog Posts
Scottish History at a Glance: The Wolf of Badenoch 10 May, 2022
Suttonian Inoculation in Eighteenth-Century Scotland 25 Apr, 2022
Other Worlds, Real and Imagined! 25 Oct, 2021
Scottish History at a Glance: The Marian Civil War 13 Oct, 2021
History Scotland Webinar Series 24 Sep, 2021
Scotland and the Low Countries 15 Mar, 2021
Confronting the Legacy of Slavery in Scotland
Dr Michael Morris explores recent efforts to confront the legacy of Scotland’s involvement in Atlantic slavery, and suggests a possible road-map for public commemoration. Follow Michael on Twitter at @M_J_Morris81 Following the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer in 2013, African-American activists developed a new campaign with a name that is poignant in its starkness: Black