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12/13/2024
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In 1906, the governors of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, acting on a suggestion from the Master Bakers of Scotland, founded the Scottish School of Bakery. This innovative institution offered a diverse array of classes, encompassing bakery, breadmaking, and practical confectionery, as well as theoretical courses in physics, chemistry, and biology.

By the 1933-1934 academic session, the School had evolved into a well-equipped and thriving facility within the Royal Technical College, which would later become the University of Strathclyde. According to its prospectus from that period, the School’s facilities included two dedicated bakeries—one for breadmaking and another for confectionery—a specialised piping room, and a laboratory for "bakery technic." Students also benefited from access to the College’s chemical, physical, and bacteriological laboratories.

The featured photograph from the same session offers a fascinating glimpse into the confectionery day class. Taken in the piping room, it shows students practising their cake decoration skills under professional guidance. Dressed uniformly in white jackets, aprons, and caps, the students are equipped with an assortment of tools, including piping tubes, small knives, pocket scissors, earthenware basins, and wooden spatulas.

Students in breadmaking similarly adhered to strict standards, wearing white jackets, aprons, and caps and using essential tools like small palette knives, bone spatulas, and thermometers. These measures ensured both hygiene and precision in their craft.

Scottish School of Bakery students practising their breadmaking skills, 1933-1934. (ref: OP/4/147/4)

The School’s curriculum was comprehensive, with courses carefully designed to provide a thorough grounding in the art and science of baking and confectionery. For instance, Practical Confectionery Course I introduced students to a wide variety of techniques and recipes:

  • Pastes such as puff, short, and choux
  • Fillings including cheese, custard, and cream
  • Meringues of different textures
  • Sponge, almond, and macaroon goods
  • Various cakes, including Genoa, Madeira, and simnel
  • Icings like fondant and royal icing
  • Piping, petit-fours, jams, purées, gateaux, and more

Building on these fundamentals, Practical Confectionery Course II advanced to more intricate skills and creations:

  • Elaborate meringues and marzipan modeling
  • Sugar artistry and wedding cake piping
  • Desserts such as jellies, creams, and dessert ices
  • Specialty items like nougat and barley-sugar trifle

The Scottish School of Bakery not only educated aspiring bakers but also set high standards for the craft in Scotland. In 1956, it transitioned to become the Department of Food Science, reflecting its broadened focus.


Further information:

Photographs of School of Bakery staff and students, 1933-1934 (ref: OP/4/147)

Prospectuses of day classes at Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College/Royal Technical College/Royal College of Science and Technology, 1899-1966 (ref: OE/10/2). Includes School of Bakery special prospectuses.

School of Bakery/Department of Food Science special prospectuses, 1950-1957 (ref: OE/10/3/6-8)

Bakery School Committee minutes, 1902-1947 (ref: OE/1/10)

Ian Terris papers: First year confectionery lecture notes, Scottish School of Bakery, 1948 (OM/466)

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11/15/2024
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UK Disability History Month (14 November - 20 December 2024) provides an opportunity to reflect on the history of the disabled rights movement and the ongoing fight for equality and human rights. It also serves as a chance to confront the myths and stereotypes that affect the lives of disabled individuals while amplifying the voices of those with disabilities, both past and present. This year, the theme for Disability History Month is ‘Disability Livelihood and Employment’.

To mark Disability History Month, our latest display on Level 3 of the University Library, curated in conjunction with Alex Kabaj, Graduate Intern at the Equality and Diversity Office, features documents, posters and photographs relating to the 1981 International Year of Disabled People and to a support group established during that year by the Society for the Prevention of Asbestosis and Industrial Diseases (SPAID). SPAID was founded in London by health and safety campaigner, Nancy Tait, and registered as a charity in 1978. The world’s first asbestos action group, it was also ‘the only Society caring specifically for … Industrially Disabled [people].' 1

One of SPAID’s key functions was to help those disabled from exposure to asbestos at work, and those suffering from other industrial diseases, by providing information, support, and practical advice on making compensation and benefits claims. It also encouraged research into the causes, prevention and remedial treatment of industrial diseases and the publication and discussion of the results; campaigned for legislation on the notification of industrial diseases; and championed the use of electron microscopy to detect asbestos fibres in lung tissue.

When the United Nations designated 1981 as the International Year of Disabled People, Nancy Tait resolved that people suffering from industrial diseases – who faced unrelenting respiratory and mobility challenges, exhaustion, mental strain, and isolation – should not be excluded from the initiative. Accordingly, she and her SPAID colleagues launched a supporters’ group, named the SPAID Fellowship, as SPAID’s contribution to the International Year of Disabled People. The Fellowship arranged social gatherings at which people disabled by workplace exposure to asbestos, and their relatives and friends, could meet others in similar circumstances, share their experiences and make new friends, whilst also receiving one-to-one advice from SPAID representatives on how to claim any assistance to which they were entitled.

The inaugural SPAID Fellowship event took place at a community centre within St Barnabas Church, Bethnal Green, London, on the afternoon of 20 June 1981. Tea and musical entertainment were provided, along with table tennis to amuse any accompanying children. The event having proved to be worthwhile, the Fellowship continued to hold support meetings at St Barnabas on the first Saturday of each month. In January 1996, SPAID was officially renamed as the Occupational and Environmental Diseases Association (OEDA), and the support group became known as the OEDA Fellowship. The OEDA Fellowship continued to meet into the early 2000s.

Further information on the activities and impact of SPAID and OEDA can be found in our Occupational and Environmental Diseases Association (William Ashton Tait) Archives (reference: GB 249 OEDA).

Details of other Disability History Month resources and events taking place at Strathclyde are available on the University's Disability History Month webpage.


1 OEDA F/1/2: Typed statement outlining the aims of SPAID, 1981.

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11/11/2024
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The Second World War affected life in the College almost as much as the First World War had done. Staff and student numbers were depleted by National Service and, in addition, many departments were heavily involved in war work. The Engineering Departments, for example, set up and ran various training schemes at the request of the Ministry of Labour and the War Office. One such was a scheme to train ordinary machine operators. The scheme was introduced in 1940 and, initially, all the trainees were men. By 1941, however, the scheme was devoted entirely to women and was supplemented with a course for training women supervisors.

The featured photograph was taken during a visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to the College Emergency Training Centre for machine operators on 5 March 1941. The King is pictured talking to two female trainees, while the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Patrick Dillon, looks on.


Archives reference: OP 4/162/11 George VI and munitions workers, 1941 (image reproduced by kind permission of the Herald and Times Group).

 

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11/07/2024
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Established at the Royal Technical College in 1920 under the auspices of the British Pharmaceutical Society and the Glasgow and West of Scotland Association of Chemists, the School of Pharmacy rapidly grew in prestige and fame becoming the largest School of Pharmacy in the UK in the span of a decade.

For most of the 1920s and 1930s Professor David Ellis worked as Superintendent of the School and Lecturer in Botany (pictured at the rear of our featured image), collaborating with Professor James Todd, Lecturer in Pharmacy and Materia Medica (at the rear, by the door). A number of women were also employed in the School as demonstrators and assistants, such as the botanist, Wanda Zamorska.

The student body and the number of classes taught grew steadily. The majority of the students were men, mainly ex soldiers discharged from service after the first world war and enrolling in courses with the aid of the Ministry of Labour. However, a significant number of women attended laboratories and classes at the School, as is evident from this photograph. Opening education to people from all walks of life was one of the most important legacies from Anderson’s Institution. Indeed, John Anderson, the founder, had expressed the hope in his will that the institution would be ‘the first regular institution in which the fair sex have been admitted… on the same footing as men’.

Pharmacy students could proceed to a B.Sc. in Pharmacy awarded by the University of Glasgow by attending qualifying classes like botany, pharmacy and materia medica, but a popular option was to take the qualifying examination from the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.


Archives reference: OP 4/131 Royal Technical College students in School of Pharmacy laboratory, c.1920

 

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11/06/2024
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The onset of the Great War in the autumn of 1914 had immediate and far-reaching consequences, both for the Royal Technical College and for its academic community. By the end of December, more than 1,000 members of staff, students and alumni had volunteered for the services. A further thousand enlisted during the following year, and by October 1920, the Royal Technical College’s Roll of Honour numbered no fewer than 3,225 officers, non-commissioned officers and men, including one nurse and 19 personnel on ‘Special Service’. A permanent memorial to the 615 students, staff and alumni who were known to have died or been killed on active service was subsequently erected in the foyer of the Royal College Building.

Photograph of Ronald William Walker, Second Lieutenant, Royal Garrison Artillery, c1918.
Ronald William Walker (1893-1984)

One of the survivors, Ronald William Walker (1893-1984), qualified for the Royal Technical College’s Associateship in Civil Engineering in 1913, shortly before the outbreak of war. Walker entered the theatre of war in France on 2 December 1917 as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers, rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He subsequently served in, and survived, the Second World War as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Engineers.

On his return from France, Walker forged a successful career in the field of civil engineering, his College training allowing him to make a practical contribution to the country’s post-war recovery. An Associate Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers and a Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers, he worked both in Scotland and England, holding a variety of posts (Assistant Civil Engineer with the firm of Formans and McCall, Glasgow; Resident Engineer with Surrey County Council, and Civilian Engineer with the War Office in London, amongst others). Walker also retained strong links with his alma mater. He was elected a Member of the Council of the Royal College of Science and Technology (RCST) - the successor body to the Royal Technical College - in session 1963-64. Following the RCST’s amalgamation with the Scottish College of Commerce to form the University of Strathclyde, Walker became a Member of the University Court until 1967. By virtue of the fact that he had been a serving Member of the Council of the RCST when the Royal Charter came into effect, Walker was also appointed a Life Member of the General Convocation of the University of Strathclyde.


Archives reference OP/4/210/1: Photograph of Ronald W. Walker (ARTC), Second Lieutenant, Royal Garrison Artillery, c.1918

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10/29/2024
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This month we were delighted to host the International Council on Archives, Section on University and Research Institution Archives (ICA-SUV) annual conference for 2024 in the Technology and Innovation Centre.

Speakers from around the world, including Egypt, Wales, India, the US, Canada, Britain and South Africa, grappled with what diversity meant to them in their professional capacities as research institution archivists. 

Seventy delegates were welcomed on behalf of Strathclyde by Jennifer Ba, Senior Race Equality Officer, who shared some diversity-related initiatives at the University. 

Speakers on day one discussed topics such as: how to deconstruct white-ness within archival collections and institutions; how to ensure a diverse narrative of the past and fill in gaps; the need to actively invite diverse voices into the archive and practice participatory record-keeping; the importance of international relationships between archival professionals to open up collections; and enriching the language we use in archival descriptions to better represent diverse communities. 

To close day one of the conference, delegates were invited to a Glasgow City Civic reception in the City Chambers. Glasgow Bailies welcomed the conference to the city and recognised the importance of the archives profession, as well as efforts to address inequality and promote diversity in our collections and practices. 

Day two saw presentations around the diversifying of collecting practices. Oral histories were suggested as an effective way to capture underrepresented voices for the historical record of the future. The importance of collaboration on an equal footing with communities was highlighted and our powerful position as custodians of historical collections, who have the ability to surface stories of hitherto hidden individuals, was reflected upon. It was recognised that any attempt to diversify collections and archival practice cannot be done alone, and that many institutional stakeholders must collaborate to embed the process. In the afternoon, speakers shared case studies for projects including a sensory map of an academic library and how to design fair and useful volunteering projects.

Day three explored reaching diverse users. The fresh perspectives of artists in residence were shared, as was the importance of welcoming students from a variety of disciplines into the archives to demystify and encourage future visits. Surfacing multi-language materials can be very inspiring for underrepresented communities of users, and working with creative writers can bring new narratives to collections. The day ended on presentations related to the importance of accurately recording the context in which archival records were created and the importance of tracing historical provenance and including this information on our catalogues. 

Delegate visit to the Scottish Jewish Archives and Heritage Centre

The conference concluded with delegate visits to the Glasgow School of Art and the Scottish Jewish Archive and Heritage Centre as well as our reading room. It was great to share some of our treasures with delegates as well as discuss the conference!

The conference was an excellent platform for exploring how we might embed diversity into our practice, and how we might begin to uncover our hidden stories. Inviting diverse audiences to use collections bring fresh perspectives. Diversifying collecting practices from now on will be vital in documenting diversity for future generations, and in tackling underrepresentation found today.

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10/17/2024
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As part of the University’s Jubilee celebrations this year, the Library collaborated with colleagues in Events to create and mount an exciting and interactive oral history trail around campus.  

The trail is based on 'The University Experience' oral history project: a fascinating set of interviews conducted in 2002/03 by researchers in the Scottish Oral History Centre.  Those interviewed were members of academic and support staff and students who were at the University of Strathclyde and its antecedents during the period of post-war education. Staff interviewees include cleaners, administrative staff, and professors. Students studying engineering, science and the arts are all represented.

Clips and quotes have been selected from five of the interviews that give an insight into Strathclyde’s history and development. They have been installed in locations across the city centre campus- including at the entrance to the Library- and you can listen to the sound clips via QR codes at the stops along the trail.  Follow the trail to learn more about Strathclyde through the decades, and to discover corners of the campus you’ve never explored before!

Find out more about the locations and the quotes themselves on the oral history trail website.

You can read (and listen to) more clips from the collection on The University Experience 1945-1975 webpage.

Enjoy your wanders around campus! 

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10/08/2024
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Each year, the University of Strathclyde confers a small number of honorary degrees upon exceptional people who have made a tangible difference in the world. To mark Black History Month, our display on Level 3 of the Andersonian Library highlights the first people of Ghanaian, Malaysian, Pakistani and Thai heritage to be awarded an honorary degree from Strathclyde, as well as the University’s first honorary graduate of Scottish-Nigerian heritage. Those featured are:

  • Professor Robert Gardiner (1914-1994), who received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1973. Gardiner was a Ghanaian academic and civil servant who served as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa from 1962-1975. He was also a Visiting Professor of Economics at Strathclyde from 1970-1975.
  • Hamzah Sendut (1927-1996), who received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1976. Sendut was a Malaysian regional planner and academic. He served as a United Nations consultant on urbanisation and urban development and, from 1969, as Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia: the first science and technology university to be established in South-East Asia. 
  • Bashir Maan (1926-2019), who received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1999. Maan was a politician and judge. Born in Pakistan, he came to Glasgow in the early 1950s, where he studied at two of Strathclyde’s antecedents, the Royal College of Science and Technology and the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Commerce. In 1970, he became the first local councillor from an ethnic minority group to be elected in the United Kingdom, winning the Glasgow Kingston seat for the Labour Party. He subsequently became the first member of his community to stand for parliament, to be a Justice of the Peace, and to be Deputy Lieutenant.
  • Professor Krisana Kraisintu (born 1952), who received the honorary degree of Doctor of Science in 2006. Born in Thailand, Kraisintu is a world-renowned pharmacist and a former student of the University of Strathclyde (MSc in Pharmaceutical Analysis, 1978). Her most notable achievement is the development of locally produced, affordable, generic anti-retroviral drugs to treat impoverished HIV sufferers in Asia and Africa.
  • Professor Jackie Kay CBE (born 1961), who received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in 2013. Born to a Nigerian father and a Scottish mother, Kay was raised in Glasgow by her adoptive parents. An award-winning poet, playwright and novelist, she was the Scots Makar (national poet of Scotland) from 2016-2021. In October 2023, she officially opened a plaza named in her honour at the University of Strathclyde.      
Honorary graduate Krisana Kraisintu (Doctor of Science honoris causa), pictured outside the Barony Hall, University of Strathclyde, 2006. Archives reference: Accession 1215. 

The display, featuring photos and documents from the University Archives and Special Collections, will be available to view until the end of October during the Library's opening hours.
 

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In 1910, the Royal Technical College in Glasgow (now the University of Strathclyde) opened its School of Navigation, designed to equip students with the technical skills necessary for careers at sea. The School provided a wide range of training in seamanship, navigation, and nautical astronomy, using innovative tools and models to enhance learning. Among these was a 'land-ship,' a revolving mock navigation bridge on the College’s rooftop, which offered students hands-on experience with compass adjustment. This unique platform, built with a Kelvin compass, was a striking feature that appeared—at first glance—like a ship sailing high above Glasgow’s rooftops, with the dome of the City Chambers visible in the background. A giant telescope, housed in an observatory on the top floor of the College, was also part of the School’s resources, helping students study nautical astronomy.

In addition to these advanced models and apparatus, the College sought to incorporate practical training on the water. In 1913, they purchased a steam yacht named Vivid, intending to use it as a training ship for the students. The Vivid was meant to provide students with an opportunity to supplement their theoretical education with real-world experience at sea. Unfortunately, this ambitious plan met a tragic end. In July of that year, less than a day into its maiden voyage as a training vessel, the Vivid struck a rock and was wrecked off the coast of Colonsay. Although no lives were lost, the incident marked the end of the School’s aspirations to own and operate a large training vessel. After the loss of the Vivid, the School limited its maritime fleet to smaller boats—dinghies for teaching rowing and sailing.

Responsibility for the provision of nautical education was transferred to Glasgow Education Authority in 1965 and the School of Navigation became the Department of Navigation at Stow College of Engineering. In 1969, the responsibility was transferred to the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies.


Image references: OP 4/81/2 School of Navigation students aboard the training ship Vivid, 1913; OP/3/72 Photograph of deviascope on roof of Royal College building, c. 1913

Further information:

Photographs from the School of Navigation on Flickr.

Film of the Land-Ship in operation, c 1942 (Scottish Screen Archive)

David Pritchard, ‘The loss of the Vivid. The biography of a shipwreck’, July 2015.

Navigation School Committee minutes, 1910-1947 (ref: OE/1/17/1)

Royal Technical College calendars, 1910-1940, containing details of Navigation School courses (ref: OE/10/1)

Navigation School prospectus, c 1956 (ref: OE/10/3/9)

Plans of training ship Vivid, 1912-1913 (ref: OF/33/1)

Navigation School course handouts and examination papers, 1958 (ref: OF/33/2)

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09/20/2024
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The Glasgow Technical College (Weaving Branch) was founded in 1877. It was located on Well Street in Calton, an area of Glasgow known for weaving since the 18th century. In 1896, the College changed its name to the Incorporated Weaving, Dyeing and Printing College of Glasgow.

In 1908, the College was integrated into the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (a predecessor of Strathclyde University) and formed a new Weaving Department.

After this merger, the Weaving Department got new equipment, including 40 power looms and 16 hand looms. The department also had a well-equipped textile testing laboratory and a museum with a large collection of samples of raw materials and finished fabrics. The weaving students were also allowed to “avail themselves of the facilities offered by the other departments of the College, particularly Engineering and Chemistry”. The chemistry facilities included new dyeing, bleaching, and printing laboratories.

The weaving course of instruction lasted three years. It included “experimental pattern designing and weaving on hand loom, power loom, and domestic loom; yarn and cloth testing; and power loom tuning”.

The new Weaving Department also benefited from a scheme of cooperation with Glasgow School of Art. In 1909, the School of Art held classes specifically for weaving students, including an evening class on textile design, and a daytime class on colour. In return, the Weaving Department taught a course on applying design to textiles for art students.

The photograph shows an example of the beautifully woven diploma certificate awarded to students at the Weaving College.


Archives reference: OG 25 Diploma certificate awarded to students of the Incorporated Weaving, Dyeing and Printing College of Glasgow

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