Conroy, James, A Very Scottish Affair: Catholic Education and the State’ Oxford Review of Education. Vol.27 no.4 The State Schools and Religion (Oxford: Taylor&Francis, 2001)
An interesting piece of secondary literature which focuses on the separation of catholic and non-denominational education, exploring the elements of both the 1872 Education Act and the 1918 Education Act while providing a narrative of how sectarian attitudes have been at the forefront of the argument on separate education in Scotland.
‘Sectarianism in Schools’ The Scotsman, October 1934.
Newspaper article demonstrating the rise of interest in the unjust provisions of section 18 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1918. The article is an pivotal piece of primary evidence as it captures the mood of the situation and is one of a few articles that highlight the growing feeling of sectarianism based on education in Scotland.
Gallagher, Tom, ‘Divided Scotland: Ethnic Friction and Christian Crisis’ (Glendareul: Argyll, 2013)
A contemporary history of sectarianism in Scotland over a broad period of time ranging from pre 1985 up until the 2014 independence referendum. Gallagher’s account covers a broad range of issues that stem from sectarian attitudes and how Scotland has moved through the decades with this still very much a pressing issue.
‘Roman Catholics Interests: Archbishop of Glasgow on Sectarianism: THE EDUCATION ACT’ The Scotsman. November 1934
A crucial piece of primary evidence which demonstrates a feeling between both Catholics and Protestants as to who was to blame for the idea of separate education. Demonstrates that both sides were accusing one another of prolonging the issue and is a good indicator of capturing the mood and feelings of the Catholic community in response to an attack on them through section 18 of the Education Act (Scotland) 1918.
The readings I haven undertaken this week I gathered through using both JSTOR and the universities Scotsman newspaper archives. These sources are useful for using in my dissertation for several reasons. First of all, the body of secondary literature I have read so far are useful for setting my dissertation in the wider context. Gallagher’s account covers a broad range of issues which make it easy to capture the situation as a whole, given that sectarianism is a huge issue which has many contributing factors such as football, education and of course religion. Gallagher’s work takes into account all of these which makes setting in wider context easier to do. On the other hand, Conroy’s article focuses more on my specific issue which is the separate education of catholic and non-denominational Scottish children. Conroy covers a wide era which also attributes to what I am researching in terms of how separate education has prolonged the sectarian issue that has plagued Glasgow and of course Scotland as a whole, for centuries. In addition to my secondary sources, allocating newspaper articles from the Scotsman archives have provided a real insight into capturing the mood of society at that time and first-hand accounts of how people felt about the impact and implications of the 1918 Education Act, particularly section 18. Moreover, using this weeks seminar readings helped to break down the kind of sources I will need to use in my dissertation, Miriam Dobson’s section on newspapers allowed me to recognise exactly what I was looking for and not to get too bogged down with an overload of information as often newspapers offer a wealth of information and through this reading It allowed me to be more focused on getting the more specific pieces of evidence rather than a huge body of text that is not all relevant.
Very good to use the Scotsman paper – but how do you avoid relying too much on one particular source? What was the Scotsman’s sectarian position – was it known to be more more sympathetic to one community or the other?
The early C20th is a bit of problem as there are few digitised press sources available (C19th is much more abundant) – have a look and see if you can access any other papers that might address this issue. Normally we would suggest visiting NLS and the Mitchell Library in Glasgow to consult microfilm newspapers – how do you overcome this problem? Start with the Times Digital Archive while you think about this – it may have been published in London but it covered provincial issues quite well at this point.
And what sources would you use other than newspapers?
For the history of education in Scotland the main authority is Robert Anderson. For Catholic schools see works by Jane McDermid, and the journal ‘The Innes Review’ will be worth checking.