Religious collections at the University of Dundee

Palm Sunday Processions

Last week we held a departmental training session on the subject of religious enquiries. The session gave us the opportunity to explore the types of past enquiries we have received, consider which areas of research had proved to be of greatest interest and ascertain which of the archive’s holdings can be used when researching religion. Within our collections we hold a range of useful resources including church plans, congregational and committee minutes and registers of births, marriages and burials. The session also gave us the opportunity to look at some published sources such as Hew Scott’s Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Parish Churches of Scotland from the Reformation, A.D to the Present Time, Vol. III, Part II: Synods of Aberdeen, and Angus and Mearns  (KLoc F 285.241 F 251) and David Bertie’s Scottish Episcopal Clergy (GH 438) as well as the archived volumes of statistical accounts compiled by Parish Ministers (see KLoc 914.131 D 914 and KLoc 914.1 T 445), useful sources of 18^th and 19^thcentury church history. 

Membership list, Glasite Church

In addition, we examined various external resources that are available for genealogists and/or those exploring church history or Scotland’s past in general. Identified as being of particular interest were two online resources, MUNDUS http://www.mundus.ac.uk/, a web based gateway to the records of more than 400 collections of overseas missionary materials held across the UK, and the Scottish Archive’s Network’s (SCAN) website http://www.scan.org.uk/, which provides a single electronic point of access to catalogue holdings of more than 50 Scottish Archives. 

The session ended with a series of questions designed to test our knowledge and understanding of the materials in our care and further hone our investigative skills. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative training session and one that will inform future practice when handling requests of a religious nature. 

For more information about our religious holdings please see our subject source list, http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/slreltop.htm, search our online catalogue, http://134.36.1.31/search/search-all.htm or email us at archives@dundee.ac.uk.

A new Glasite Church accession

Archive Services recently received a major accession of material relating to the Glasite churches from a depositor in Edinburgh. The accession augments the already substantial collection of Glasite material held by the Archives. It contains a large quantity of manuscript and printed items, including first editions of works by John Glas and Robert Sandeman, as well as a copy of what is said to be the first published hymn book in Scotland Hymns and Spiritual Songs.

This new accession will be of interest to scholars across the world. In recent years academic researchers from Oklahoma and California have come to Dundee to examine the Glasite material because some denominations in America, in particular the Churches of Christ, trace part of their spiritual ancestry to the Glasites. The image below is from a list of members of the Church that was established in New Hampshire in the 18th century.

List of members of the Church in New Hampshire, 1765

The Glasite Church itself originated in Dundee and the surrounding area. John Glas was a Church of Scotland minister in Tealing whose fundamentalist views and opposition to secular authority over the church led to his expulsion from the Dundee Presbytery in 1730. Most of his congregation decided to follow him and thus the ‘Kail Kirk’ was established. Kail Kirk was a nickname which resulted from the congregation’s celebration of the biblical ‘love-feast’ in which cabbage, or kail, broth was served.

Other congregations were established throughout Scotland and, although the church members referred to themselves simply as ‘Christians’, the Church became known as the ‘Glasite Church.’ John Glas’ son-in-law, Robert Sandeman, took the Glasite doctrinal approach to England, then ultimately to New England. In England and North America the church was usually known as the Sandemanian church and one of its most famous members was the English scientist Michael Faraday. The Glasite material in the Archives contains some of Faraday’s correspondence and examples of occasions when, as an Elder, he officiated at sacraments such as baptisms.

As well as correspondence, spiritual writings, and lists of members, the collection contains a number of diaries kept by travellers from England and America visiting Dundee and Angus, where their Church was first founded. The diaries offer an interesting insight into 19th century life in Dundee, including a traveller’s first encounter with a new piece of technology, the telephone! Although the collection is particularly important for anyone interested in non-conformist religion during the 18th and 19th centuries, it contains a variety of material that will be of interest to many different types of researchers.

Science in the Archives

On Thursday 11 November Archive Services contributed to the Dundee Science Festival by offering a tour of the archive stores followed by the opportunity for people to look at a selection of items relating to science and technology. We had some fascinating material on display including the papers of famous scientists connected to the University of Dundee or its predecessor institutions, such as Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of radar, and Walter Spear, part of the team that famously worked on amorphous semiconductors. During the tour itself the visitors were also told about other famous scientists, such as D’Arcy Thompson who taught natural history and zoology and Patrick Geddes who taught botany.

Among other items were examples of papers relating to James Ballantyne Hannay, the Scottish chemist who claimed to have created an artificial diamond in 1880, some civil defence training notes for medical professionals from the 1960s about what to do if there were mass casualties resulting from a nuclear attack, and an article on the University’s pioneering satellite receiving station.

One of the more amusing items was a journal of a Sandemanian from London who travelled to Dundee in 1881 to visit the Glasite churches in and around Dundee. He describes how, after descending the Auld Steeple he was introduced by a local businessman to 'the Telephone', adding that he did not 'say anything to it as they were too busy at the other end.' Just as amusing were some of Walter Spear’s straight and to the point responses to some unusual and unsolicited letters from somewhat eccentric self-proclaimed scientists.

The image above is from the collection of R.P. Cook who undertook groundbreaking research into cholesterol. His and the other papers described above are all available for consultation at the Archives.