The Scottish Emigration Blog

Scottish Eats on the Ohio River

2012-05-17T22:22:00.000-04:00

Nicholson's Pub in Cincinnati

I spent last week in Cincinnati, Ohio with my mother. She went to the National Genealogical Society's Annual Conference and I went to socialize and see the sites. While perusing the AAA guide to see where I should go and what I should eat, I spotted Nicholson's Pub and the entry said it served Scottish fare. That's not something you see everyday.

My mom and I ate there on a Wednesday evening - they just barely had room for us - but the food was great. My mom had fish and chips. I would have that, but since I'd eaten that the night before at the Claddagh Irish Pub across the river, I ordered the Pan Roasted Salmon. It was YUMMY.

Scottish Decor over the Patio

The waiter said there wasn't as much Scottish food on the menu as there had been in the past. But there was still some, plus servers where kilts with t-shirts that said, on the back, If it's not Scottish, it's crap. There were assorted Scottish themed signed on the walls - for pubs and beer and the like. All in all, tastefully theme-y.

Honestly, it was really nothing like any restaurant I'd been in in Scotland, but I'd recommend it just the same. Nicholson's a little piece of Scotland on the Ohio River.

Happy Act of Union Day

2012-05-01T09:25:00.000-04:00

On 1 May 1707 the Act of Union between Scotland and England became fully operational. I thought since dis-union has been in the news much of late, it would be appropriate to link to several sources that discuss the origins of the Union. I am not an expert by any means, but it appears despite all the shenanigans that took place Scotland's constitutional position was untenable by the early eighteenth-century. The main argument was not whether or not there would be a Union with England, but whether in would be a federal union or an incorporating union. The former was preferred by many, but they got the latter.

To read up on the Union you can try the brief Acts of Union: The Creation of the United Kingdom by Allan I. Macinnes at BBC History. If you have more time or are exceptionally keen there are three recent books on the subject: Scottish Public Opinion and the Anglo-Scottish Union, 1699-1707 by Karin Bowie, The Scots and the Union by Christopher Whatley and The Scottish Presbyterians and the Act of Union 1707 by Jeffrey Stephen. Tom Devine edited a volume on the past, present and future of the Union, Scotland and the Union 1707-2007, which includes contributions by Karin Bowie, Chris Whatley, Richard Findlay, Alex Murdoch, and Allan Macinnes. The books by Bowie, Whatley and Devine are now available in modestly priced paperbacks. Well, modest for an academic book. Look for the Stephen book at the library.

If you don't want to read anything, you can listen to a series of lectures on various aspects of the Union given at the University of Edinburgh in 2007. Debating the Union of 1707, on the historical aspects, features Karin Bowie, Chris Whatley, Richard Findlay, Alex Murdoch, and Christopher Smout. They are available to download through iTunes here.

nb. I must confess to only being partially keen: I have only read Dr. Bowie's book and listened to Debating the Union of 1707.

ssshhhh..... historian at work

2012-04-29T18:59:00.001-04:00

Strathdearn

Many years ago I completed my PhD dissertation and have always planned to turn it into a book. Almost all of it has been presented at various conferences and a big chunk of Chapter 2 appeared in the Scottish Historical Review in 2009. But the book, not so much. I have been focusing on it more is the past 18 months, mostly trying to remember how I said all the families in Scotch Settlement were connected, looking for more migration networks, trying to update my reading, and editing the text. Then about a month ago, I realized I was tired of it NOT being done. And so that is what I have been doing the past several weeks, working on the book in addition to giving lectures, writing magazine articles, doing client research, visiting family, and throwing tea parties. Sadly, blogging has fallen to the end of my list of things to do.

I wanted all loyal readers and followers of The Scottish Emigration Blog to know that I've not abandoned it, but I probably won't be back to three posts a week for a while. On the bright side (at least for me) after days pouring over parish records and finding not much of anything (I call it negative research), today I found two sentences from a book by Charles Fraser-Mackintosh that were very gratifying to find. Is it sad that two sentences written 120 years ago make me happy?

So, stay tuned and watch this space for upcoming posts and news about Scotch Settlement - The Book.

Inventing Tradition or Angst on Tartan Day

2012-04-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

Tartan Day Spread

I have been busier than usual the past several weeks (as you might have surmised already), but I thought I could still eke out enough time to continue inventing traditions at my house and celebrate my Scottish heritage on Tartan Day.

As Tartan Day, 6 April, fell over Easter Weekend, I figured my celebrations had to happen another time. So, I first scheduled (in my head) a Tartan Day potluck on Saturday, 31 March. By the time I send out the Evites, it was a Tartan Day Tea on Sunday, 15 April. And honestly, if I hadn't sent out the Evites when I did, I probably would have given up on the whole thing.

If you'll remember from my attempt to celebrate St. Andrew's Day last fall, everything was a bit hectic. And except for the music, it was equally hectic this past Sunday. I thought I would have time to bake, but didn't. Everything on the table pictured above was purchased at Gaelic Imports or made from a box. I did manage to frame a copy of the famous passage from the Declaration of Arbroath, which I encouraged people to read. The music worked out well because I made a Tartan Day playlist in my Amazon Cloud and played that through my computer. It worked like a charm!

As I was frantically finishing the preparations and fretting - about everything - I kept repeating something that Erma Bombeck said, "don't worry about whether or not your plates match, just have your friends over." And she was right. Once I got everything on the table (about 15 minutes after the first guests arrived), I settled down and a really great time was had by all. My friends, who came from different areas of my life, all got along just fine and over half the food was gone before the Tea was over.

Tartan Day, for me, was really just an excuse to have company over and there's nothing wrong with that.

Ellis Island Tartan

2012-04-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

In January 2012 I posted about the creation of the Panda Tartan by the Edinburgh Zoo. The design and colors in this tartan honor the peoples of Scotland and China. Even if you don't care for tartan, one must admire the sentiment.

Just in time for Tartan Day I have learned about a new commerative tartan. In 2011, an Ellis Island Tartan was created to honor the tenth annual Tartan Day Celebrations at the National Park. It was designed by Matthew Newsome of the Scottish Tartan Museum (which I posted about here) using colors to signify aspects of American history. Read more about the Tartan here and information about purchasing it here. All proceeds will benefit the Save Ellis Island Foundation.

Follow the Ellis Island National Park at @EllisIslandNPS.

Scotland, Books, and Identity. Oh My!

2012-04-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

If you are interested in modern Scotland and/or issues of identity but prefer literature to history, you might want to listen to to New Scottish Writing from the Guardian's Book Podcast. This episode was recorded in August 2011 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Topics include the best new Scottish writers and the role of fiction in exploring national identity.

The correspondents produced several podcasts while at the Festival including Jackie Kay and Sebastian Barry: Identity and Struggle and Gothic Edinburgh. There is also a short video of an interview with Alasdair Grey here. I know he is one of the most renown Scottish authors, but I must confess that I tried to read Lanark and hated it so bad that I couldn't finish it. I soon sold my copy to a fellow student.

I hope you enjoy these podcasts about Scottish fiction more than I enjoyed Lanark.

An Leabhar Mòr (The Great Book) at Ellis Island

2012-04-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Ellis Island is celebrating Tartan Week with a special exibit of An Leabhar Mòr - The Great Book of Gaelic until 8 April 2012.

From the Ellis Island website:

Tartan Day on Ellis Island 2012 will celebrate "An Leabhar Mòr" - The Great Book of Gaelic.

"An Leabhar Mòr" is a modern version the famous "Book of Kells". More than 150 Gaelic poets, calligraphers, and visual artists have contributed to this celebration of Gaelic art, language, and culture. "An Leabhar Mòr" is a work of art that illustrates cultural connections between Gaelic Scotland and Ireland.

Saturday, March 31 through Sunday, April 8, you can see what this book is all about. As part of NY Tartan Week, the exhibition, titled "An Leabhar Mòr" (The Great Book of Gaelic), will be on display in the Main Building at Ellis Island.

In addition to this exhibit, from Friday, April 6 through Sunday, April 8, you can enjoy Celtic music (from the Rampant Lion Pipe Band, the New York Metro Pipe Band, and a harp circle led by Mia Theodoratus) and dancing by the NY Celtic Dancers.

See the official announcement here, learn more about An Leabhar Mòr here, and see what's happening during Tartan Week on Ellis Island here.

with thanks to @EllisIslandNPS

Return of the (Scottish) Soldier - A Lecture in Manhattan

2012-03-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

A lecture entitled, "Return of the Soldier: The Scots in America During World War I" will be presented by Yvonne McEwen of the University of Edinburgh in Manhattan on April 10th.

Read the announcement from the New York Public Library here. Learn more about Ms. McEwen here and the Center for the Study of the Two World Wars here.

This talk should provide insight into continued connections immigrants in America felt with their homeland and why the outbreak of war turned so many Scots into return migrants.

It's about Time for Brave

2012-03-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

In the March 5th issue of Time Magazine is an article about the forthcoming animated feature Brave. "Pixar's Girl Story," by Joel Stein, provides intriguing details about the inner workings of the Pixar studio in addition to the twists and turns of Brave's story development and production. All of which is quite interesting but ... (you knew that was coming didn't you) ... nothing in the article countered my fear, based solely on the trailer, that Brave would be an extravaganza of trite images of the "wild and untamed Highlands" heaped atop a mountain of fanciful imaginings of the Middle Ages. In fact, my historian's heart plummeted when I read that the "unofficial consultant" for all things "medieval, Scottish and violent" was Mark Andrews whose expertise seemed to be that he practiced martial arts and played Dungeons & Dragons. Mr. Andrews, who visited Scotland for the project in 2006, later became the film's director and created a "brawnier" version of the original story. I will try to suspend disbelief and my historian's heart when I see the film, but it won't be easy.

Read the introduction to the article here. If you don't subscribe see if you can get a copy at your local library.

Brave is scheduled for a summer release: 21 June in Australia & Canada, 22 June in the US & Canada, and 17 August in the UK. Find more release dates at the IMDB here.

Scottish Food – It’s Nae Sae Bad

2012-03-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

Heard bad things about British Food? Worried about what you might be served on your great ancestor hunting dream trip in Scotland? Well, I can tell you from personal experience that there is lots of great food in Great Britain. Atlhough, I must admit to being surprised that mushy peas were supposed to be that way.

Anyway, if you don’t want to take my word for it, then listen to the 15 Aug 2011 episode of The Food Programme. In this episode, Sheila Dillon explores Scotland’s first National Food Policy (here, PDF). This policy hopes to help end the divide in Scottish Food. On the one side are quality food products that are in high demand around the world. On the other is a Scottish population that is amongst the unhealthiest in Europe. There is a reason Scotland exports whisky and not deep-fried pizza.

Join Ms. Dillon as she visits Skye which has several home grown food industries, Shotts where they are trying to improve access to fruit and veg, and finally to Renfrew where she dries deep-fried pizza. She might have liked it better if she’d gotten it battered. Then again, maybe not.

Visit the Food Programme podcast page here or search iTunes.

Scots Traders Create Communities

2012-03-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

“At Home Abroad: Ethnicity and Enclave in the World of Scots Traders in Northern Europe, ca. 1600-1800” by Douglas Catterall is a wide-ranging article which examines the development of Scottish enclaves (or communities) in the North Sea and the Baltic.

From the 15^th century onwards, Scots merchants had to have burgher affiliation before they left Scotland to ensure they were a “good and respectable sort.” Thus they were already disposed to maintain ties to their home community. Additionally, behavior expected of burghers in Scotland became expected of Scots in overseas communities.

The associations formed by these enclaves centered around poor-relief of their fellow Scots instead of confessional (Presbyterian or Catholic) associations. Even those associations that were “British” in scope tended to be dominated by Scots. Thus it seems that the St. Andrew’s Societies established in the American Colonies for the relief of fellow Scots were part of a much longer tradition.

Scots formed these associations, and in where allowed their own churches, to help keep themselves aware of their ethnic background and outsider status. However, in a few countries, including Denmark and Sweden, they were economically and politically useful to the host countries. Consequently, Catterall describes these Scots as insiders-outsiders.

Within the text, Catterall lists where these Scots communities existed and if they were able to establish their own churches (this was not always possible due to the confessional laws of the host countries). Extensive secondary and archival sources are listed in the notes.

For family historians, this work, along with that of Steve Murdoch, will help provide insight to the world of the North Atlantic in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Hardly any individuals are listed by name. For students and academics, this article obviously provides the same context, but I think provides many ideas for future studies of Scottish communities in Europe during this period.

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Catterall, Douglass. “At Home Abroad: Ethnicity and Enclave in the World of Scots Traders in Northern Europe, ca. 1600-1800” Journal of Early Modern History, 8, 3-4, pp. 319-357. Access the abstract here; see if your local librarian can help you track down the rest of the article.

What was New in Migration History

2012-03-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

If you are just beginning your studies in immigration history or are simply interested in the field, then you should read “From Immigration to Migration Systems: New Concepts in Migration History” by Dirk Hoerder.

This article, from the Organization of American Historians, is aimed at the non-specialist. It is an excellent and brief introduction to the state of immigration studies as existed in 1999. Three aspects stressed by Hoerder are migration systems (which connect two or more societies), the increased study of non-North European migrants and migration systems not centered on the United States. The article closes with several case studies, which would be useful for instructors.

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Hoerder, Dirk. “From Immigration to Migration Systems: New Concepts of Migration History,” OAH Magazine of History, Vol, 14, No. 1, Migrations (Fall, 1999), pp. 5-11.

Access the first page of the article here; see if your local library has a JSTOR subscription if you would like to read the rest of the article.

Scotland, Transportation, and Criminal Justice

2012-03-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

In a short article published in 1985, Dr. Roger Ekirch examines the role of transportation in the Scottish criminal justice system. He estimated that nearly 700 people (excluding political prisoners) were transported between 1718 and 1775.

Until 1747, heritable jurisdictions still existed in the Highlands with the power to banish criminals. Unfortunately, a handful of landlords declared their tenants criminals in attempts to evict them. Outside the highlands and everywhere after 1747, transportation was only for the most serious crimes (e.g. murder, horse-theft, kidnapping) and these cases were decided by the High Court of Justiciary based in Edinburgh.

Individuals with cases coming before the High Court could petition for banishment and indeed most of those exiled from Scotland in this period were petitioners. The catch was that these individuals had to arrange for their own passage to the Colonies and had to remain in jail until they could do so. This process was easier said than done, even for the wealthy.

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Ekirch, A. Roger. “The Transportation of Scottish Criminals to America during the Eighteenth Century” The Journal of British Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Jul., 1985), 366-374. Access the first page of the article here; see if you local library has a JSTOR subscription so you can read the rest of the article.

Trouble on the Seaforth Estate

2012-03-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

If you have ancestors who lived on the Seaforth Estate or are interested in the period known as “First Phase of Clearance” (1783-1815), you might be interested in case-study by Finlay McKichan.

McKichan examines the proprietorship of Francis Humberston McKenzie of the Seaforth Estate located in mainland Ross-shire and Lewis. He places McKenzie’s action in the context of his background, ambitions, and the actions of other landlords during this period. McKenzie grew up in London and had no expectations of inheriting the estate. Consequently, he was an outsider when he came to the Highlands and Romantic notions may have clouded his judgment regarding the business of the estate. More than some other landlords, McKenzie did try to balance his responsibility to his tenants and his patrimony, with economic necessity. He did try not to sell land or evict tenants. He was also a tireless military recruiter which brought him a tidy income. These actions do place McKenzie in a favorable light. On the other hand he had a penchant for nice things and living a luxurious lifestyle and so consistently outspent his income. Finally, he did have to sell land, knowing that the new owners would evict the tenants. Debts at the time of his death in 1815 were almost £150,000 and by 1862 most of the estate had been sold off.

This article has as its focus the actions of the landlord, Francis McKenzie and hardly mentions the tenants at all. As such it is part of the historiography of the Clearances that focuses solely on landlord action. Although, in this article it is implicit, not explicit. McKichan does not examine how McKenzie’s actions or inactions impacted the tenants. On the other hand, it is only an 18 page article, and there is only so much that can be accomplished in that amount of space.

For family historians, this article will not provide you with names (or any information really) about the tenants, but does provide the context in which they lived. For academics, the article provides more insight to this relatively overlooked period of Scottish emigration.

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McKichan, Finlay. "Lord Seaforth and the Highland Estate Management in the First Phase Clearance (1783-1815)," The Scottish Historical Review, vol. 86, No. 222 (Apr., 2007), 50-68. The abstract to the article is here; check to see if your library has a subscription to Academic Search, the rest of the article might be available there.

Who were the British Convicts sent to America, 1718-1775

2012-02-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

A 1985 article, "Bound for America," provides an overview of British Government policy after the passage of the Transportation Act of 1718. Most of the estimated 50,000 individuals transported during this period were from England, with smaller numbers from Scotland and Ireland. In most cases transportation was seen as a merciful punishment for capital crimes. And in lesser cases, judge and juries tried to avoid transportation by sentencing people to whippings or other punishments. And while today, we might prefer exile to a public whipping, in the eighteenth century a great many people did not survive their first year in the Americas.

Using available records, Ekirch profiles those banished to the British colonies between 1718 and 1775. His analysis finds that those banished tended to be young men without any particular skills who were drawn to criminal activity because they could not find steady employment. This contrasted with those who bound themselves as indentured servants as they tended to be the highly skilled. Individuals with skills were in great demand in the colonies. The Americans were, understandably, not keen on having British criminals dumped on their on their shores, but they were unskilled and that was even worse. But as Ekirch points out, transportation existed to serve the needs of the British State, not the American economy.

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Ekirch, A. Roger. “Bound for America: A Profile of British Convicts Transported to the Colonies, 1718-1775.” William and Mary Quarterly, 3^rd Series., Vol. 42, No. 2 (Apr. 1985), 184-200. The Stable JSOTR URL is here; check to see if your local public library has a subscription to JSTOR.

Food Heritage Along the River Nith

2012-02-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Do you have ancestors who farmed in southwest Scotland? Then you might be interested in the 4 July 2011 episode of the Food Programme in which host Sheila Dillon explores farming practices along the River Nith. On her journey down the river she encountered rare breeds of sheep and cattle and Norse fishing techniques along with the benefits of sustainable farming practices in the modern world.

Visit the Food Programme podcast page here or search iTunes.

CFC - Scottish Religion at Home and in the Diaspora

2012-02-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

This call for chapters (CFC) from the Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph was sent to me by a friend. The deadline is 15 March 2012.

Scottish Religion at Home and in the Diaspora

Religious belief has had a profound influence on Scottish history. Both within and outside of Scotland, believers from the time of St. Columba to John Knox to the modern world have aided in the development of what might be considered‘Scottish Religion’. As we recently marked the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation, it seems appropriate, then, to consider the changing face of religion in Scotland.

With this in mind, The Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph invites proposals for the third volume in the Guelph Series in Scottish Studies. This fully peer-reviewed volume will consider Scottish Religion, broadly defined. Proposals are welcome from both established and emerging scholars in a variety of academic disciplines and time periods. The editors welcome proposals on a range of subjects to do with Scottish religion, including, but not limited to: The institutional church, popular piety, the diaspora, religious violence, religious networks, gender, sport, identity, class, and minority religions.

Chapter proposals of 500 - 1000 words, along with a short CV, should be submitted by e-mail to dmacleod@uoguelph.ca by March 15, 2012. Authors will be notified of accepted proposals by April 15, 2012. Final papers of 5000-7000 words must be completed by August 31, 2012, after which they will be sent to referees. A fall 2013 publication date is planned.

For more information, please contact the editors, Daniel MacLeod and Stuart Macdonald at dmacleod@uoguelph.ca

Now available in the Guelph Series in Scottish Studies:

The Shaping of Scottish Identities: Family, Nation, and the Worlds Beyond. Edited by Jodi A. Campbell, Elizabeth Ewan, and Heather Parker (2011)
Ties of bluid, kin, and countrie: Scottish associational culture in the diaspora. Edited by Tanja Bueltmann, Andrew Hinson, and Graeme Morton (2009)

with thanks to kbowie

What were your Highland Ancestors up to in the 19th century?

2012-02-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

If Tom Devine is correct, your Highland ancestors probably spent a great deal of time working as migrant labor within Scotland during the harvest. Devine estimates that at least one person per family was involved in this labor force. This practice had many advantages for the Highlanders. Primarily, it provided them with the income to survive on their remote homes. Essentially, many families existed on remittances sent home by sons and daughters working in the Lowlands. It slowed depopulation of the Highlands because people had the income to buy what they could not grow. Additionally, people who had temporary moved to the Lowlands were not in the Highlands thus limiting pressure on food resources.

One advantage that Devine doesn’t mention is that all this movement would have increased the networks available to the Highlanders. Increased networks (which is really about more communication) would improve their access to information about jobs and emigration opportunities. To be fair, I don't think network theory was used by any historians in the 1970s.

While Devine does not mention individual Highland migrant workers by name, his article does provide an overview of one aspect of the Highland experience for this period. And undoubtedly, many of you will have examples of migrant laborers in your family trees.

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Devine, T.M. “Temporary Migration and the Scottish Highlands in the Nineteenth Century” The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 32, Issue 3 (Aug. 1979), 344-359. Access the first page of the article here; see if your local library has a JSTOR subscription so you can read the rest of the article.

Guess What?!

2012-02-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

In Thursday’s post, I mentioned that I had wanted to call this blog, The Scottish Diaspora Blog, but figured few people would Google Scottish diaspora and even fewer would know what it meant.

Well, guess what? When looking for more information on the Guelph Conference I discovered that there actually is a Scottish Diaspora Blog. It was started in December 2011 by Tanjya Bueltmann of Northumbria University. Dr. Bueltmann seems primarily interested in Scottish communities in the Pacific. It looks promising, so be sure check it out.

A Primer on Scottish Diaspora Studies

2012-02-16T15:56:00.000-05:00

If you are just beginning your study of Scottish Diaspora studies or your hunt for Scottish Ancestors, then “The Emigrant Experience: The Scottish Diaspora” (here, PDF) by Euan Hague is the article for you. In this piece, Hague summarizes a conference of the same title held at the University of Guelph in October 1999. Only 30 of the 100 attendees at the conference were professional academics, indicating that the majority were students and “regular” people interested in the topic.

The conference organizers didn’t really like the term “diaspora” and thus relegated this piece of “academic jargon” to the second part of the conference title. Even some of the speakers found this term contentious at the time. While in the ensuing 13 years the term diaspora has become more commonly used by academics (and even the Scottish Government) to describe Scottish emigration, I don’t think it has quite reached the masses. A case in point, I had wanted to call this blog The Scottish Diaspora Blog since "diaspora" refers not only the people who emigrated but also to the communities they created away from Scotland. However, I knew that hardly anybody would Google “Scottish diaspora;” the arm-chair historian or genealogist was much more likely to search for “Scottish emigration” or “Scottish emigrants.”

After setting the scene for the conference, Hague highlights the main themes of the conferences as well as the speakers and their subjects: Michael Vance, Ned Landsman, Stephen Duguid, Jack Little, Callum Brown, Michael Newton, Fiona Black, Kathy Carter, and Euan Hague. A list of references is provided.

Future and Past on Barra

2012-02-07T04:00:00.000-05:00

If you have ancestor's from Barra or Vattersay, you might enjoy this podcast from Coast and Country, first broadcast 30 April 2011. In this episode of Open Country, Helen Mark discusses the proposed Special Area of Conservation (pSAC) in the Sound of Barra and East Mingulay and local history and customs with area residents. Listen for a mention of the connection between regional economics and migration.

A Feburary 2012 article in the Hebrides News Today highlights continuing concerns about the pSAC. Information about the pSAC from Scottish Natural Heritage is here.

New Book on Modern Scottish History

2012-02-04T04:00:00.000-05:00

While looking for one book, I tripped across this one, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History, edited by T.M. Devine and Jenny Wormald. It has recently been published in the UK (on amazon.co.uk here) and ought to be available in the US on 15 April 2012.

This volume is greatly needed in the field of Scottish History as it collects the vast amount of research completed within the past three decades. The contributors to the volume comprise a veritable who's who of Modern (1500-present) Scottish History. Many are those I knew when I was lived in Glasgow: Colin Kidd, James Coleman, Karin Bowie, Alexander Broadie, and Richard Finlay. There are several chapters on migration (T.M. Devine, Steve Murdoch, Ester Mijers, Angela McCarthy and Ben Braber) and one on the Clearances (Robert Dodgshon). The volume is divided into five sections; the first is thematic, the next four are chronological. More details are available from Oxford University Press here.

The book looks fabulous and I would love to support the work of these scholars. The catch is that the book is currently listed at $152.57. Seriously. $152.57. Even the Kindle price is $120. I suppose I, like may of you, will have to hope we can get this book through inter-library loan.

EmigranThursday - Patrick McMaster

2012-02-02T04:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to another brief return of EmigranThursday. This week I am letting Colin Nicolson of the University of Stirling do all the work with his 2007 article "A Plan to 'banish All The Scotchman": Victimization and Political Mobilization in Pre-Revolutionary Boston." This article examines the plight of Patrick McMaster, a Boston merchant.

Nicholson's object in the article is to understand the political climate and the experience of recent British migrants in Colonial Boston during the Non-Importation crisis of 1770. He does this through focusing on the recent immigrants Ann Hulton and Patrick McMaster who were attacked by mobs within hours of each other in on June evening in 1770. Patrick McMaster and his brothers originally hailed from Galloway and were successful merchants in Boston from about 1765 until 1775. The following year they left for Halifax and eventually settled in New Brunswick.

I really enjoyed this article and I encourage you to read it. You can access the article here (PDF). Additionally, J.L. Bell, who writes the Boston 1775 blog, has a post on Patrick McMaster and Nicolson's article here.

Scots Abroad and at the National Library of Scotland

2012-01-28T04:00:00.000-05:00

The Hector, Pictou, Nova Scotia

Scots Abroad: Stories of Scottish Emigration is an online exhibit from the National Library of Scotland (NLS). There are five components to the exhibit: Preparing to Go, Arriving and Settling In, Building Communities, Keeping Identity, and Resources.

The site includes brief narrative histories on the emigrant experience for each section and more detailed histories for six emigrants. You can read and listen letters to letters written by these individuals, one of whom is Flora McDonald. These exhibit sections would be useful for anyone wanting a brief overview of Scottish emigration and for students (or teachers) who need quick access to primary documents.

The list of resources is extensive and includes the NLS' own Scots Abroad databases. There are five separate databases in this collection: Scots in North America, Emigrants' Guides to North America, Scots in Australasia, Emigrants' Guides to Australia and New Zealand, Emigration from Scotland: Emigrants' Correspondence. These databases are essentially a card catalog and do not contain text from the documents. Manuscripts, obviously, can only be viewed at the NLS. However, books in their collection might be available online or at repositories elsewhere.

The Migration Museum (UK) Project: Information & Resources

2012-01-26T04:00:00.000-05:00

A plan is afoot, and has been for several years, for a major new museum in the United Kingdom. While the UK does have an abundance of museums, it lacks one devoted to the importance of migration to these islands. According to the proposal (here, PDF) the Migration Museum would "treat immigration as a major event," use interactive story techniques, discuss migration into and out of the UK, and include exhibits and a research archive.

Further information about the proposed museum is included in a 2009 discussion paper (here, PDF) by ippr (the Institute for Policy Research). They argue that the museum would benefit the citizens of the UK by highlighting their shared history which would help establish a shared sense of identity. They also propose creating a database of researchers working on migration history (see item 6 on pg. 12).

The third piece of literature regarding the museum is the 2009 report, "Stories Old and New: Migration and Identity in the UK Heritage Sector" by Mary Stevens. This report is essentially a literature review of what already about exists in the UK regarding migration. Basically, there isn't much as unlike the US and Australia the UK has never defined itself as a nation of immigrants; it simply isn't part of the national narrative. The report further addresses how the heritage sector can play a role in changing the narrative. While this report clearly focuses on migration into the UK, it does mention a several resources on emigration, for example the The Swedish House of Emigrants (aka The Swedish Emigrant Institute).

While the Migration Museum is still in the project stage it does have a website (here) where you can learn more about the project, find a Learning Zone with teaching resources, view the 100 Images of Migration Gallery, and more. Keep up to date with the Museum via Twitter (@MigrationUK).

Look for future posts on selected emigration resources mentioned in the report.