Archives and Special Collections: Scottish Election Ephemera

The collection of election ephemera at the University of Strathclyde is a valuable research resource. It was set up in 1999 to document the election campaign to the new Scottish Parliament. Now the collection contains campaign material for all elections that have taken place in Scotland since 1999. It continues to grow as we collect new material during each election.

The Scottish Parliament election will take place on 6th May 2021. Archives and Special Collections aim to collect a copy of each leaflet circulated across all constituencies in Scotland. To do this, we are asking everyone to send any leaflets you, friends or family receive.

Please save your leaflets, drop into the collection box in the library, or send them to:

Scottish Election Ephemera, Archives and Special Collections, Andersonian Library, University of Strathclyde, 101 St James Road, Glasgow, G4 0NS

If Strathclyde staff or students would rather wait until they are back on campus, please keep the leaflets safe and pop them in internal mail or drop them into the library on your return. Our collection is open for donations at any time.

This collection is created by donation of campaign material from a variety of sources, including:

• University of Strathclyde staff, students and alumni
• Local libraries across Scotland
• Any individual living in a Scottish constituency
• Political parties and candidates
• Exchange with other collecting repositories: National Library of Scotland, Scottish Political Archive at Stirling University, and Bristol University.

We collect manifestos, election addresses, leaflets, posters or newsletters produced by candidates and political parties for Scottish constituencies or regions during Scottish Parliament, Westminster and European elections. We accept campaign material for the most recent or current elections but we are interested in any historical donations too.

The materials we collect fall into several categories:

• ephemera relating to a single named candidate who is standing for election in a given constituency
• ephemera relating to a group of named candidates from a single political party who are standing for election in a given electoral region
• ephemera relating to a single political party, at regional or national level
• ephemera relating to the election as a whole.

The Scottish Election Ephemera collection was developed in collaboration with the Centre for Digital Library Research to house the election material which was collected and digitised as part of the ASPECT project during the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. Since then we have continued to collect material for all elections taking place in Scotland in order to provide a rich research resource for students and researchers.

The Scottish Election Ephemera is open to all, please contact us to arrange an appointment. This collection may be of particular interest to:

• students and researchers of political and governmental science
• students and researchers of history and Scottish affairs
• students and researchers of communication, marketing and media studies
• politicians and civil servants
• journalists and the media
• the general public

The Scottish Election Ephemera is catalogued to series level on the archives online catalogue and there is an item level list available in the Archives and Special Collections reading room. Please contact archives@strath.ac.uk for further information.

What if my name and address are on the leaflet?

When the leaflet is added to the collection we redact any personal information on it by obscuring the details. 

What if you already have a copy of the leaflet?

We share duplicate leaflets with other repositories that collect election ephemera or we dispose of them as confidential waste.

I've found some leaflets from an election years ago, can I still send them?

Yes please! We accept donations at any time. It would be helpful, but not essential, if you can indicate which election the leaflets may be from.