University of Guelph Library
Scottish collections and archives at Guelph
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The Library’s Scottish collection is one of the finest in the world. Interest in building Scottish and Scottish-Canadian holdings began after 1965 when the University of Guelph was established. Over the years, the Library has established rare book, manuscript, and archival resources which have gained national recognition. No other North American library is committed to developing their Scottish resources to the same extent. Browse all Scottish archival holdings at Guelph.
Archival
materials in the Scottish Collection cover a variety of topics and
formats that include diaries, letters, legal documents, photographs, scrapbooks,
clippings and genealogies. The earliest
items in the collection are Campbell of Monzie land charters which date forward from c.1330s. The
largest archival collection, the Ewen-Grahame papers, covers
the period 1732 to 1892; it contains personal and business correspondence with people concerned with art, politics, and commerce. Many collections
pertain to Scottish emigrant families, such as the Lizars Collection,
an Edinburgh family that settled near
Goderich, Ontario. An original collection of Jacobite works purchased in 1975 has been greatly augmented to become one of the best in the world. Manuscript letters and editions of sympathetic tales of the "Young Chevalier" often include flattering portraits of Bonnie Prince Charlie while other works, such as the curious Collectanea, a collection of English newspapers clippings from 1745 to 1747, present anti-Jacobite views.
Among the monographic holdings there are numerous guidebooks and travel accounts and local histories relating to all areas of Scotland that contain fascinating pictorial records. These acquisitions encompass such works as John Parker Lawson’s Scotland Delineated (1858) and travel related publications about cities and illustrated views, such as William Beattie’s Caledona Illustrated (1838) which includes engravings by W.H. Bartlett, T. Allom and others. Earlier rare works, such as Sir John Sinclair’s "old" Statistical Account (1791-99) and county reports, are readily available. The local history collection is unique in North America for its completeness, numbering in excess of three thousand items containing valuable genealogical and local history materials. For those tracing their Scottish ancestry, there are many useful circulating handbooks and a large collection of family histories in Guelph's open collections.
Many tracts on Scotland’s turbulent religious history, such as a collection of the Disruption pamphlets, are located in rare books. More specialized collections of pamphlets cover the Covenanting periods of the 17th century, including both the early period (1637 to 1650’s) as well as the later or Cameronian period. Another valuable addition is a large collection of printed material on the Catholic Apostolic Church, founded by the Annan-born preacher, Edward Irving (1792-1834). Literary holdings are extensive. The John Galt Collection, while not complete for this author of over a hundred
titles, is the best in Canada: the Library has many of his American
pirate editions and has one of four known copies of Galt’s
epic poem "The Battle of Largs" (1804). Particularly strong
is the Scottish Chapbook Collection, numbering
in excess of five hundred booklets. These small pamphlets offer a unique
insight into what people "on the street" were reading during the first part of
the eighteenth century. The Library has a unique copy of a literary
magazine The Spy, edited by James Hogg, the "Ettrick
Shepherd", in which Hogg had identified many of the anonymous contributors.
Many resources outside Archival and Special Collections circulate and are available for perusal, notably the publications of nineteenth
century Scottish clubs. These include, for example, the famed Bannatyne Club (est. 1823), first edited by Sir Walter Scott; the Maitland Club, the Spalding Club of Aberdeen,
the Society of Antiquaries, and the Glasgow Archaeological Society. More Scottish holdings have been described in more detail in the
Library’s special publication entitled Collection
Update.
The Library is always interested in acquiring any material such as rare books or old family letters that might contain information on conditions in Scotland or Scottish pioneer life in Canada. In addition to regular library funds, there have been a number of important and valuable donor contributions and materials have also been purchased by the Scottish Studies Foundation in Toronto and friends of the library who value the importance of having a secure repository for these unique historical documents. As a result, the Scottish collection continues to fascinate users and grow in size.