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CONTENTS
Electric Scotland News
Electric Canadian
The Flag in the Wind
The Working Life of Christina McKelvie MSP
Scottish Poets in America
Songs of Robert Burns
The Bards of Bon Accord 1375 - 1860
Brother Scots
The History of Brechin
Culross and Tulliallan (New Book)
Robert Burns Lives!
Book of Douglas
General View of the Agriculture of the country of Fife
Electric Scotland News
Well we've been having lots of problems with our Community. I won't weary you with all the details except to say it's mostly down to the software company giving us bad code to install. Then on Thursday we got hit with a power outage and that led to disk problems and so all that delayed the fix we were implementing. A bit of a nightmare all told. At the moment we seem to be going one step forward and one step back. Fix one problem and another appears.
Steve has a developer account with Facebook and to get better integration we need a secure server to interface with Facebook. That we now have so it's just a matter of getting the new compiled code integrated into our community to link with it. Steve is also looking to integrate Twitter and other social networks as well.
All this has also revealed a problem with our MySQL server which we're also working on fixing. It's down to that server that it's taking some 30 minutes to reboot while it should at worst take only 5 minutes.
So sorry for all the hassles and we certainly hope to be back up by Friday night.
----
A new bursary for students to study the history and literature of Clan Currie
Bob Currie, President of the Clan Currie Society visited Sabhal Mòr Ostaig to launch the Clan Currie Bursary (Duais Clann MhicMhuirich), a new annual award which will be given to students of the Gaelic college who undertake research on the literature, poetry and history of Clan Currie.
Pictured at the launch of the Clan Currie Bursary are: John Norman MacLeod, Vice-principal of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig; Prof Hugh Cheape, Course Leader; Bob Currie, President of the Clan Currie Society; and Prof Boyd Robertson, College Principal.
Mr Currie, who travelled from the United States to launch the award, said: “The Clan Currie Society is delighted to be establishing Duais Clann MhicMhuirich with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, to support students who are specialising in the study of the MacMhuirichs and Gaelic poetry, literature and history. While much has been written of this great bardic dynasty, it is now recognised that much more remains to be revealed and interpreted through modern scholarship. As an example, there has been little study on the MacMhuirichs in the islands of Mull, Raasay and Colonsay. The Clan Currie Society takes great pride in supporting this research.”
Professor Hugh Cheape, Course Leader for the MSc Material Culture and Gàidhealtachd History, commented: “We are exceptionally pleased to welcome Bob Currie, President of the American-based Clan Currie Society, to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig to announce the creation of a bursary – the ‘Duais Clann MhicMhuirich’ – to be awarded by the Society annually to a student in Gaelic history and literature for a research project on the bardic dynasty of MacMhuirichs whose history goes back 900 years to the first of the name, Muireadhach Albannach. This gesture offers highly valued opportunities for research and writing through the medium of Gaelic and at the highest levels and also to engage with both national archives and with oral tradition still current in different communities. We are very proud to be instigating this on behalf of the Clan Currie Society and are looking forward to collaborating with the Society to bring knowledge of this great dynasty before the people of Scotland and our cousins and descendants overseas.”
Clan Currie became hereditary poets to the powerful MacDonald Lords of the Isles who reigned over a semi-autonomous Gaelic kingdom which at its height covered a large swathe of Scotland’s western seaboard. The MacMhuirich poets were among the preeminent tradition bearers of Scotland’s Gaelic culture during this time, and produced many famed works in the bardic tradition. Despite the demise of the Lordship, the MacMhuirichs continued in their poetic tradition, and Niall MacMhuirich in the 15th Century was the first of several notable bards to Clan Ranald.
ABOUT THE STORIES
-----------------
Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's New" section in our site menu and at:
*http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm and also http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
We try not to point to a pdf file and instead send you to page where the pdf can be downloaded.
Electric Canadian
-----------------
Acadia - Missing Links of a Lost Chapter in American History
This is a 2 volume publication.
I thought it would be interesting to give some history of Acadia as it's not actually a Province in Canada and have found people are not sure what area of Canada it covers. You can read this book at http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...sing/index.htm
The Flag in the Wind
Hopefully, this is a one off. The Editor caught me at the end of a Board meeting and asked if I would do the Flag whilst he cavorts about Europe enjoying himself. With a bit of luck this will be my only venture into this kind of journalism as I don’t feel particularly happy about putting my thoughts on a website that is beamed around the world. Never mind, you never know. When I’ve finished it I may feel that I’ve done such a good job I should take over as editor of The Scotsman. That could only be an improvement for them.
Anyway here goes and see what you think
You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Scottish Poets in America
------------------------
With Biographical and Critical Notices by John D, Ross (1889)
Now added...
Alexander Wingfield, which now completes this book.
You can read this entry at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet.../chapter25.htm
The other entries can be found at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...rica/index.htm
*
Songs of Robert Burns
---------------------
We added this week...
Historical Notes: Misc and Glossary which now completes this book.
You can get to this book to read more at http://www.electricscotland.com/burns/songs/index.htm
The Bards of Bon Accord 1375 - 1860
------------------------------------
By William Walker
Added the chapter on "Ross or Lochlee"
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...cord/index.htm
Brother Scots
-------------
By Donald Carswell
This week we added an account of Keir Hardie.
It is said that the Scots are a politically minded race, but the Statement requires some qualification. One cannot, of course, escape the remarkable fact that of the eleven men who have held the office of Prime Minister during the past fifty years, six have borne typical Scottish names and have been of more or less pure Scottish descent, and that generally a large and quite disproportionate number of Scotsmen have been prominent in the political life of the country. But that proves no more than that the Scots have a great inclination and aptitude for English party politics, greater, it may even be, than that of the English themselves. It does not prove that they are politically minded in the creative sense. They may be, but the course of history has not allowed them to show it. As things are, the Scotsman who follows a political career must proceed along the lines prescribed by English convention and accept whatever situation the English genius may create, limitations with which as a rule he is perfectly content. There is therefore no specifically Scottish content in his public life. He does nothing that could not equally well be done by a Welshman or a Jew, or for that matter an Englishman. To this rule there has been only one exception. Keir Hardie made the one specifically Scottish contribution to British politics, and it is worth while noting that it consisted primarily of the destruction of a peculiarly English institution, namely, the Liberal party. Of course, his ostensible ground of attack was the "capitalist" character of Liberalism, but as Keir Hardie was never able to distinguish clearly between "capitalist" and "English", that hardly signifies.
You can read this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ther_scots.htm
The History of Brechin
---------------------
By David D Black, Town Clerk (1867)
In the concluding chapter the author states...
Haying finished the historical part of our work, we propose to devote this chapter to a statistical account of Brechin, town and parish, and to a notice of the non-ecclesiastical buildings and other particulars worthy of observation in the burgh—in brief, having looked on Brechin, hitherto, mainly as it was, we mean now to look to it as it is.
We are now also working on the various appendices and I might add that I couldn't find any videos of Brechin but did find one of their Pipe Band and also Brechin Hare & Hound in 2011.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...chin/index.htm
Culross and Tulliallan
--------------------
or Perthshire on Forth, its History and Antiquities with elucidation on Scottish Life and Character from the Burgh and Kirk-Session Records of that District by David Beveridge (1885) in two volumes.
We are now up to Chapter VII and I also found a couple of quite good videos on Culross but the only thing I could find on Tulliallin was the passing out parade from the Police College.
You can get to this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ross/index.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
------------------
Edited by Frank Shaw
For a second time, Furman University senior Erin Frazer is appearing in the pages of Robert Burns Lives! We first learned of Erin just a few weeks ago in an article regarding her serving an internship at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Now she is back and in grand style, having written an article about Robert Burns which appears below.
A lot has been said over the years about young people not being interested in Burns, but in this case I beg to differ. Recently we had some school children write about their experience in putting on their own Burns Supper at school around the same time Erin was enjoying her first Burns Supper which was hosted by the Scottish Parliament. Both cases prove there is a rekindling of young people willing learn about and celebrate Scotland’s National Bard. It doesn’t matter that one was celebrated in a school house while the other was commemorated in one of the most expensive buildings ever built in Scotland. What matters is that young people of varying ages took time to pay tribute to Burns.
Erin’s paper is part of her study-abroad program which she is required to submit for college credit. She is coming back to Furman University in Greenville, SC on May 2, and she has a standing invitation to come see the Burns collection that Susan and I have been building for over 15 years. Hopefully, if her time permits, she will find time to attend one of the meetings of our Burns Club of Atlanta and present her paper to our membership. What a treat for her and for us! **(FRS: 4.26.12)
You can read the rest of this article at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives137.htm
Other articles in this series can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
Book of Douglas
---------------
by William Fraser (1885)
I was actually looking for a book about the town of Douglas when I came across this 4 volume publication. I figured it would make an interesting read for members of that family or having a connection with it so have made it available from the Clan Douglas page at http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...g/douglas.html
General View of the Agriculture of the country of Fife
---------------------------------------------------
This book was published in 1800 and provides some really good information on agriculture at the time. The book is in pdf format and is some 400 pages and offers great detail on all aspects of farming in the county.
You can download the book at http://www.electricscotland.com/agri...00greaiala.pdf and I've also added it to our Agriculture section.
And finally...
An old pastor lay dying. He sent a message for an Internal Revenue Service agent and his lawyer to come to the hospital. When they arrived, they were ushered up to his room. As they entered the room, the pastor held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The pastor grasped their hands, sighed contentedly, smiled and stared at the ceiling. For a time, no one said anything.
Both the IRS agent and lawyer were touched and flattered that the old man would ask them to be with him during his final moments. They were also puzzled because the pastor had never given any indication that he particularly liked either one of them.
Finally, the Lawyer asked, "Pastor, why did you ask the two of us to come here?"
The old pastor mustered all his strength, and then said weakly, "Jesus died between two thieves, and that's how I'd like to go."
And that's all for now and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
Electric Scotland News
Electric Canadian
The Flag in the Wind
The Working Life of Christina McKelvie MSP
Scottish Poets in America
Songs of Robert Burns
The Bards of Bon Accord 1375 - 1860
Brother Scots
The History of Brechin
Culross and Tulliallan (New Book)
Robert Burns Lives!
Book of Douglas
General View of the Agriculture of the country of Fife
Electric Scotland News
Well we've been having lots of problems with our Community. I won't weary you with all the details except to say it's mostly down to the software company giving us bad code to install. Then on Thursday we got hit with a power outage and that led to disk problems and so all that delayed the fix we were implementing. A bit of a nightmare all told. At the moment we seem to be going one step forward and one step back. Fix one problem and another appears.
Steve has a developer account with Facebook and to get better integration we need a secure server to interface with Facebook. That we now have so it's just a matter of getting the new compiled code integrated into our community to link with it. Steve is also looking to integrate Twitter and other social networks as well.
All this has also revealed a problem with our MySQL server which we're also working on fixing. It's down to that server that it's taking some 30 minutes to reboot while it should at worst take only 5 minutes.
So sorry for all the hassles and we certainly hope to be back up by Friday night.
----
A new bursary for students to study the history and literature of Clan Currie
Bob Currie, President of the Clan Currie Society visited Sabhal Mòr Ostaig to launch the Clan Currie Bursary (Duais Clann MhicMhuirich), a new annual award which will be given to students of the Gaelic college who undertake research on the literature, poetry and history of Clan Currie.
Pictured at the launch of the Clan Currie Bursary are: John Norman MacLeod, Vice-principal of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig; Prof Hugh Cheape, Course Leader; Bob Currie, President of the Clan Currie Society; and Prof Boyd Robertson, College Principal.
Mr Currie, who travelled from the United States to launch the award, said: “The Clan Currie Society is delighted to be establishing Duais Clann MhicMhuirich with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, to support students who are specialising in the study of the MacMhuirichs and Gaelic poetry, literature and history. While much has been written of this great bardic dynasty, it is now recognised that much more remains to be revealed and interpreted through modern scholarship. As an example, there has been little study on the MacMhuirichs in the islands of Mull, Raasay and Colonsay. The Clan Currie Society takes great pride in supporting this research.”
Professor Hugh Cheape, Course Leader for the MSc Material Culture and Gàidhealtachd History, commented: “We are exceptionally pleased to welcome Bob Currie, President of the American-based Clan Currie Society, to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig to announce the creation of a bursary – the ‘Duais Clann MhicMhuirich’ – to be awarded by the Society annually to a student in Gaelic history and literature for a research project on the bardic dynasty of MacMhuirichs whose history goes back 900 years to the first of the name, Muireadhach Albannach. This gesture offers highly valued opportunities for research and writing through the medium of Gaelic and at the highest levels and also to engage with both national archives and with oral tradition still current in different communities. We are very proud to be instigating this on behalf of the Clan Currie Society and are looking forward to collaborating with the Society to bring knowledge of this great dynasty before the people of Scotland and our cousins and descendants overseas.”
Clan Currie became hereditary poets to the powerful MacDonald Lords of the Isles who reigned over a semi-autonomous Gaelic kingdom which at its height covered a large swathe of Scotland’s western seaboard. The MacMhuirich poets were among the preeminent tradition bearers of Scotland’s Gaelic culture during this time, and produced many famed works in the bardic tradition. Despite the demise of the Lordship, the MacMhuirichs continued in their poetic tradition, and Niall MacMhuirich in the 15th Century was the first of several notable bards to Clan Ranald.
ABOUT THE STORIES
-----------------
Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's New" section in our site menu and at:
*http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm and also http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
We try not to point to a pdf file and instead send you to page where the pdf can be downloaded.
Electric Canadian
-----------------
Acadia - Missing Links of a Lost Chapter in American History
This is a 2 volume publication.
I thought it would be interesting to give some history of Acadia as it's not actually a Province in Canada and have found people are not sure what area of Canada it covers. You can read this book at http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...sing/index.htm
The Flag in the Wind
Hopefully, this is a one off. The Editor caught me at the end of a Board meeting and asked if I would do the Flag whilst he cavorts about Europe enjoying himself. With a bit of luck this will be my only venture into this kind of journalism as I don’t feel particularly happy about putting my thoughts on a website that is beamed around the world. Never mind, you never know. When I’ve finished it I may feel that I’ve done such a good job I should take over as editor of The Scotsman. That could only be an improvement for them.
Anyway here goes and see what you think
You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Scottish Poets in America
------------------------
With Biographical and Critical Notices by John D, Ross (1889)
Now added...
Alexander Wingfield, which now completes this book.
You can read this entry at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet.../chapter25.htm
The other entries can be found at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...rica/index.htm
*
Songs of Robert Burns
---------------------
We added this week...
Historical Notes: Misc and Glossary which now completes this book.
You can get to this book to read more at http://www.electricscotland.com/burns/songs/index.htm
The Bards of Bon Accord 1375 - 1860
------------------------------------
By William Walker
Added the chapter on "Ross or Lochlee"
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...cord/index.htm
Brother Scots
-------------
By Donald Carswell
This week we added an account of Keir Hardie.
It is said that the Scots are a politically minded race, but the Statement requires some qualification. One cannot, of course, escape the remarkable fact that of the eleven men who have held the office of Prime Minister during the past fifty years, six have borne typical Scottish names and have been of more or less pure Scottish descent, and that generally a large and quite disproportionate number of Scotsmen have been prominent in the political life of the country. But that proves no more than that the Scots have a great inclination and aptitude for English party politics, greater, it may even be, than that of the English themselves. It does not prove that they are politically minded in the creative sense. They may be, but the course of history has not allowed them to show it. As things are, the Scotsman who follows a political career must proceed along the lines prescribed by English convention and accept whatever situation the English genius may create, limitations with which as a rule he is perfectly content. There is therefore no specifically Scottish content in his public life. He does nothing that could not equally well be done by a Welshman or a Jew, or for that matter an Englishman. To this rule there has been only one exception. Keir Hardie made the one specifically Scottish contribution to British politics, and it is worth while noting that it consisted primarily of the destruction of a peculiarly English institution, namely, the Liberal party. Of course, his ostensible ground of attack was the "capitalist" character of Liberalism, but as Keir Hardie was never able to distinguish clearly between "capitalist" and "English", that hardly signifies.
You can read this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ther_scots.htm
The History of Brechin
---------------------
By David D Black, Town Clerk (1867)
In the concluding chapter the author states...
Haying finished the historical part of our work, we propose to devote this chapter to a statistical account of Brechin, town and parish, and to a notice of the non-ecclesiastical buildings and other particulars worthy of observation in the burgh—in brief, having looked on Brechin, hitherto, mainly as it was, we mean now to look to it as it is.
We are now also working on the various appendices and I might add that I couldn't find any videos of Brechin but did find one of their Pipe Band and also Brechin Hare & Hound in 2011.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...chin/index.htm
Culross and Tulliallan
--------------------
or Perthshire on Forth, its History and Antiquities with elucidation on Scottish Life and Character from the Burgh and Kirk-Session Records of that District by David Beveridge (1885) in two volumes.
We are now up to Chapter VII and I also found a couple of quite good videos on Culross but the only thing I could find on Tulliallin was the passing out parade from the Police College.
You can get to this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ross/index.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
------------------
Edited by Frank Shaw
For a second time, Furman University senior Erin Frazer is appearing in the pages of Robert Burns Lives! We first learned of Erin just a few weeks ago in an article regarding her serving an internship at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Now she is back and in grand style, having written an article about Robert Burns which appears below.
A lot has been said over the years about young people not being interested in Burns, but in this case I beg to differ. Recently we had some school children write about their experience in putting on their own Burns Supper at school around the same time Erin was enjoying her first Burns Supper which was hosted by the Scottish Parliament. Both cases prove there is a rekindling of young people willing learn about and celebrate Scotland’s National Bard. It doesn’t matter that one was celebrated in a school house while the other was commemorated in one of the most expensive buildings ever built in Scotland. What matters is that young people of varying ages took time to pay tribute to Burns.
Erin’s paper is part of her study-abroad program which she is required to submit for college credit. She is coming back to Furman University in Greenville, SC on May 2, and she has a standing invitation to come see the Burns collection that Susan and I have been building for over 15 years. Hopefully, if her time permits, she will find time to attend one of the meetings of our Burns Club of Atlanta and present her paper to our membership. What a treat for her and for us! **(FRS: 4.26.12)
You can read the rest of this article at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives137.htm
Other articles in this series can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
Book of Douglas
---------------
by William Fraser (1885)
I was actually looking for a book about the town of Douglas when I came across this 4 volume publication. I figured it would make an interesting read for members of that family or having a connection with it so have made it available from the Clan Douglas page at http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...g/douglas.html
General View of the Agriculture of the country of Fife
---------------------------------------------------
This book was published in 1800 and provides some really good information on agriculture at the time. The book is in pdf format and is some 400 pages and offers great detail on all aspects of farming in the county.
You can download the book at http://www.electricscotland.com/agri...00greaiala.pdf and I've also added it to our Agriculture section.
And finally...
An old pastor lay dying. He sent a message for an Internal Revenue Service agent and his lawyer to come to the hospital. When they arrived, they were ushered up to his room. As they entered the room, the pastor held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The pastor grasped their hands, sighed contentedly, smiled and stared at the ceiling. For a time, no one said anything.
Both the IRS agent and lawyer were touched and flattered that the old man would ask them to be with him during his final moments. They were also puzzled because the pastor had never given any indication that he particularly liked either one of them.
Finally, the Lawyer asked, "Pastor, why did you ask the two of us to come here?"
The old pastor mustered all his strength, and then said weakly, "Jesus died between two thieves, and that's how I'd like to go."
And that's all for now and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
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