The 2024 United Kingdom general election has been called for 4th July. Every household across the UK will soon be receiving a flurry of election leaflets promoting their local candidates and political parties.  Archives and Special Collections aim to capture and preserve this snapshot of political life. But we need your help to do it!

We are looking for election leaflets circulated to all 57 parliamentary constituencies in Scotland. So we're calling on you, across the country, to save those leaflets!

Here's how you can contribute:

1. Collect: Gather any election leaflets you, your friends, or family receive.
2. Drop off: Place them in the collection box located in the University of Strathclyde library.

3. Post: If you're not nearby, send your leaflets to:

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

Strathclyde staff or students, if you're off campus, keep your leaflets safe and simply pop them in the internal mail or drop them off at the library when you return. Our doors are always open for your valuable contributions.

By contributing, you're helping to build a rich, diverse archive that will serve researchers, students, and future generations. 

Curious about our collection? Find out more about our collection of Scottish Election Ephemera and explore the treasures we've already gathered.

Image reference: Selection of leaflets representing the main political parties in Scotland from the 2019 UK general election (SEE/W/2019)

Dr James ‘Paraffin’ Young made a fortune in the Scottish shale-oil industry and became a great benefactor to his alma mater. After becoming President at Anderson’s University in 1868 he established the Young Chair of Technical Chemistry. He gathered an impressive collection of early printed books on the history of chemistry that he bequeathed to the Chair. The Young Collection contains books and manuscripts dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries on alchemy, chemistry and early science.

‘Hic est Draco caudam suam devorans.’

Here is the dragon that devours his own tail.

These pages are from 'Atalanta Fugiens', an alchemical emblem book containing fifty woodcut images accompanied by poems and music in the form of ‘fugues’. It is regarded as one of the earliest examples of multimedia, using different forms to express complex alchemical ideas. The symbol of a snake or dragon devouring its tail, an ouroboros, stands for infinity or wholeness.

Item reference: Michael Maier, Atalanta Fugiens (1618), Young Collection (GIF created by Carol Stewart).

Young, James, and John Ferguson. Bibliotheca Chemica : a Catalogue of the Alchemical, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Books in the Collection of the Late James Young of Kelly and Durris ... / Glasgow: J. Maclehose and Sons, 1906.

James ‘Paraffin’ Young (1811-1883), was a chemist, inventor and pioneer of the oil industry. He had a long association with Anderson’s University, the ancestor of the University of Strathclyde, starting from 1830 when he attended evening classes there. The following year he was appointed laboratory assistant to chemistry professor, Thomas Graham. It was whilst a student at Anderson’s University that Young formed a lifelong friendship with fellow student David Livingstone. A generous benefactor throughout his life, Young financed David Livingstone’s explorations in Africa.

Young continued his association with the University, becoming president of the institution in 1868, a position he held until 1877. In 1870, he established the Young Chair of Technical Chemistry to support industry based chemistry within the institution.

A great innovator, Young patented numerous and diverse industrial processes. This patent for improvements in distilling is one of several in the University Archives. It is inscribed on parchment and retains its original great seal. Patents proved vital to the profitability of Young’s work and he embarked on considerable litigation throughout his career against other companies attempting to infringe his rights.

Young is perhaps best remembered for his distillation of cannel coal, producing a number of useful liquids. He entered into partnership with Edward Binney and Edward Meldrum for the manufacture of oils from cannel coal at Bathgate, West Lothian. Their works were completed in 1851, and paraffin fuel and solid paraffin sold from 1856. These were the first truly commercial oil-works in the world.

Archives reference: T-YOU 3/38 Letter patent to James Young for ‘Improvements in Distilling’ dated 6 April 1866 (registered 1 April 1869)

We are delighted to introduce a guest blog post from our very own Business Librarian, Lorna McNally, who discovered a little bit of Strathclyde history on her travels to Yale University, USA.

Who knew that attending a Business Librarians conference at Yale University would lead to a chance encounter with a letter from John Anderson to Benjamin Franklin?

As the current President of the European Business Schools Librarians’ Group, I was fortunate to attend the Association of Business Library Directors conference hosted by Yale University 23-27th April 2024

At the pre-conference tour of the Sterling Memorial Library, something caught my eye, it was a sign for the “Franklin Collection & Papers of Benjamin Franklin.”

Before I delivered my talk to the conference, I explained to the audience about the history of the University of Strathclyde and the link between our founder, John Anderson, and Benjamin Franklin.  After hearing about my interest, the Business Librarian at Yale arranged for me to visit the Franklin archive.  The very next lunchtime I was standing at the door of the Franklin Collection at Yale:

Behind the door is a treasure trove of books, letters, papers, paintings and busts all related to Benjamin Franklin.

Whilst there I had the pleasure to meet Ellen Cohn, Chief Editor of the Benjamin Franklin Papers and Amy Jacaruso, Editorial Assistant (photographed with me above). Amy showed me a copy of a letter sent by John Anderson from Glasgow College, 25th February 1788 to “His Excellency Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia”.  The original letter is kept at the University of Pennsylvania, but even seeing a copy with Anderson’s swirling penmanship was a very special moment.

Ellen and Amy knew all about John Anderson.  Ellen had visited Glasgow before although she had not visited Strathclyde.  I have given them both a warm invitation to visit us in the Andersonian Library should they ever be in Glasgow.

Whilst at Yale I also had the opportunity to visit the Beinecke Library.

The incredible building has marble ‘windows’ that allow some light through but protect the rare books and manuscripts inside from the sun’s harmful rays. “The marble panels protect the collections from damaging direct sunlight while absorbing and diffusing the exterior light in warm hues on the interior.” 

Amongst the treasures in the Beinecke is a Gutenberg Bible, one of only 21 complete copies that have survived, alongside some of the oldest printed objects in the World!

My trip to Yale was an experience of a lifetime and something I’ll never forget.  The theme of the conference was ‘Exploring the Digital Frontier’ and delegates discussed the challenges and opportunities facing librarians in the 21st century.  Alongside this I had a little brush with history, some of the oldest and most precious printed materials in the world. And a happy encounter with a copy of a letter written by Strathclyde’s founder, a little piece of Strathclyde’s history sitting quietly on the hallowed shelves of Yale University.

Read more about the connection between John Anderson and Benjamin Franklin.

All photographs by Lorna McNally.