A summary of the history of the Kelvinside Literary Association is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

In 1873, at the annual social meeting of this association, the President of the society mentioned that a proposal was put forward to start a magazine for the group, which was received with ‘great applause’. The topic was discussed at two subsequent meetings, when a decision was made to postpone looking into it further until later in the session. Up until the 1883-1884 session (the last session that is covered by the extant minute book), there is no further evidence that the issue was raised again. It appears that the proposal to start a society magazine never got off the ground.

This society was one of many groups in Scotland and England (and beyond) during the long nineteenth century that held discussions during their meetings about founding a group scrapbook, magazine or newspaper for their respective societies, but chose in the end not to start one.

It is debatable whether or not these societies should be included in this study. However, we would argue that the discussions and/or stated intentions of these groups to found a magazine for their societies demonstrates that the issue was important enough to be considered as part of their associational activities, indeed, to be part of their efforts for ‘improvement’ (this was variously defined as intellectual, religious and/or moral improvement) whether they ultimately decided to found one or not. The fact that they did at least discuss it should be recorded.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Kelvinside Literary Association (later became The Young People’s At Home) (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1865-(at least 1909)

Date of Magazine

(Currently unknown if ever produced)

Number of Issues

(Currently unknown)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

(Unknown)

Contents and Contributions

(unknown)

Repository

(Glasgow City Archives, see ‘Reference’ below)

Reference

(See minute book of this literary association for details on the meetings in which discussions took place about starting a society magazine: Glasgow, Kelvinside, Free Church, U.F., Literary association minutes, 1871-84, CH3/1012/11)

Additional Notes

This was a Free Church society and should not be confused with the Kelvinside Parish Church Literary Society, which was a Church of Scotland society. For more information about this group see entry for Kelvinside Parish Church Literary Society on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

See also entry for Kelvinside Literary Association on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

A summary of the history of the Renwick Free Church Literary Association is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

At the first formative meeting of this group in October 1889, a proposal was made to have a manuscript magazine for the society, which was ‘favorably mentioned by several of the gentlemen present’. An Editor was duly appointed as one of the office bearers. It is of note that this society saw the production of a magazine as an important element to the aims of the group from the very beginning.

The group’s magazine would take the form of a ‘Magazine Night’, and a decision was made later on to have the contributions bound. ‘Magazine Evenings’ or ‘Magazine Nights’ were meetings that were devoted to the reading of original essays (or occasionally poems) written by group members that were submitted to the Magazine Editor beforehand. The Editor would be responsible for collecting, occasionally selecting, and reading the pieces aloud to the group (more rarely this was done by the contributor him/herself) on the appointed night. This would be followed by ‘criticism’ — or discussion on the piece’s positive and negative points — by the group members.

After the meetings, these contributions were sometimes bound and saved in the society’s library (if they had one) or would be kept by one of the office bearers. In these cases, it was intended that the magazine was to be preserved and that group members would have access to it at a later date. It is of note that literary and mutual improvement groups used the term ‘magazine’ to refer to the oral as well as the material medium.

The association’s first Magazine Night was held on 15 February 1890, when the Editor, James McGilvery, read aloud the pieces that were sent to him prior to the meeting. The minutes note that McGilvery took the trouble of re-writing all the pieces into a single document. This was an uncommon practice in mutual improvement and literary groups. It was usually done to try to maintain the anonymity of the authors as their respective handwriting was presumably recognisable by other group members. This practice also helped to give a uniformity to the magazine, which, for some societies was of some import.

The contributions from that first night were both prose essays and poems. The authors chose pen-names, for example, ‘Abbot’ and ‘Muse’. Most of the titles were not recorded, but it was noted that a paper entitled the ‘Evolution of Plants’ and a clay pipe’s humorous soliloquy drew the most conversation, the substance of which is given. The subjects of the other pieces and the comments they elicited were noted. The first Annual Report for the society described the night a a ‘brilliant success’.

At the close of the meeting, it was proposed that the magazine be bound and made part of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Library, and that the literary society members would have have first priority.  The magazine was then placed in the YMCA Library, and was the joint property of the society and the YMCA. To date, we have found no evidence of this volume or the second volume, which was also recorded as being bound.

Thereafter, a Magazine Night was held once a session in February. In some cases, the titles and respective summaries are given in the minutes. In the case of some of the poems, it is not possible to determine the subject.

After the society was revived in 1908, the next Magazine Night was held in December 1909, with last being held a year later.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Renwick Free Church Literary Association (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

9 November 1889-1892; 9 January 1908-1913?

Date of Magazine

February 1890, February 1891, February 1892, December 1909, December 1910

Number of Issues

5 (possibly not extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript (magazines appear to be no longer extant)

Contents and Contributions

Advertisement; Articles (non-fiction); Correspondence column; Editorial; Essays; Fiction/Narrative; Game (acrostic); Letter to Editor; Poems (original); Sketch

Repository

(Glasgow City Archives)

Reference

(See: Renwick Church of Scotland [from GCA folder: ‘from 1876 Renwick Free Church’], Literary Association, minutes, 1889-1892; 1908-1913)

(Note: these records are listed under different reference numbers in the Glasgow City Archives (GCA) black reference binder, and in the National Records of Scotland (NRS) online catalogue. Both are listed here: (GCA folder:) GCA, TD396/30/1-2; (NRS cat.:) GCA, CH3/1650/9/3/1-2)

Additional Notes

See also entry for Renwick Free Church Literary Association on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

The first ‘Annual Report of the Committee of the Airdrie Young Men’s Christian Association’ (in manuscript) provides a brief history of the group’s inaugural year from it’s founding in February 1872 until January 1873. The association was nonsectarian and its object was its members’ religious, moral and intellectual improvement. This was to be accomplished by holding a variety of meetings which were divided by the group into the religious and the secular. For example, in additional to meetings held for bible studies, devotional exercises and ‘proofs’, there were also meetings specifically for mutual improvement activities like preparing and presenting ‘general essays’ to the group, holding debates, and reading materials aloud at the meetings.

The group met at the Town Hall in Airdrie by permission of the Town Council (later, the venue would change to the Association Hall, which was located at 89 Graham Street). The sessions ran weekly during the winter from October until April, and the first session wrapped up with a social meeting. The subjects of the essays and debates were similar to those of other literary and mutual improvement groups. During the summer of 1872, the group met for classes in elocution, and 25 members took part. In the second session, a class in shorthand and another in French were started.

There were 40 members in the first (short) session, and by January 1873, mid-way through the second session, there were 68. The Committee noted rather tartly that the attendance levels at the mutual improvement meetings were on the whole better attended than the religious ones. This document also includes the attendance rolls.

The second document related to this group is a printed announcement for the opening lecture for the 1883-1884 session. The last is a printed prospectus booklet for the 1893-1894 session, which includes: a list of the Airdrie Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) office bearers; list of affiliated associations; names of the members of the General Council; advertisements for the association’s activities; syllabus for the ‘Literary Section’; a list of the section’s committee members; its bylaws; constitution of the YMCA; and membership details.

From the syllabus of the Literary Section, we know that the group continued to meet weekly in the late nineteenth century. Membership was open to young men who were members of the YMCA and others who were of good moral character. The subscription charge was 1s 6d, which was cheaper than the subscription for ‘Basic Members’ of the YMCA (2s), and cheaper than the average for these groups at this time (2s 6d). Similarly to the meetings in the 1870s, guest lectures were given and essays read, but a musical evening was added to the syllabus along with an annual free breakfast for the poor. Further, ‘Magazine Evenings’ (listed in the Syllabus as the ‘Editor’s Drawer’) were now featured, and there were three held during this session.

‘Magazine Evenings’, ‘Magazine Nights’, or even ‘Manuscript Magazine Nights’ were meetings that were devoted to the reading of original essays (or occasionally poems) written by group members that were submitted to the Magazine Editor beforehand. The Editor would be responsible for collecting, occasionally selecting, and reading the pieces aloud to the group (more rarely this was done by the contributor him/herself) on the appointed night. This would be followed by ‘criticism’ — or discussion on the piece’s positive and negative points — by the group members.

After the meetings, these contributions were sometimes bound and saved in the society’s library (if they had one) or would be kept by one of the office bearers. In these cases, it was intended that the magazine was to be preserved and that group members would have access to it at a later date. It is of note that literary and mutual improvement groups used the term ‘magazine’ to refer to the oral as well as the material medium.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Airdrie Young Men’s Christian Association, ‘Literary Section’

Date of Existence

7 February 1872-1894?

Date of Magazine

1893?-1894?

Number of Issues

(at least) 3 Magazine Evenings (unknown if contributions were preserved)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

(Presumably unpublished manuscripts)

Contents and Contributions

(unknown)

Repository

North Lanarkshire Archives

Reference

Airdrie Young Men’s Christian Association, 1872-1893, U31 2/1-3

[Note: the reference number given on the Scottish Archive Network online catalogue for this material is listed as the following: GB1778/U31]

A summary of the history of the Govan Parish Young Men’s Association is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

This association held its first ‘Manuscript Magazine Evening’ on 6 December 1892. These meetings took place about once a session thereafter. They were specifically ‘Members’ Meetings’, as opposed to those that were open to the public (e.g. lectures, dramatic recitals, concerts and musical evenings), which suggests that the contributions and the discussion that followed were intended solely for this select audience.  The titles of the contributions were not always listed in the minutes, and in some cases, it was not possible to discern the subject of the piece from its title. The last Magazine Evening recorded in the minutes took place on 3 December 1907, when only two papers were read, one entitled ‘Literary Style’, and the other called ‘Modern Literature’.

‘Magazine Evenings’, ‘Magazine Nights’, or even ‘Manuscript Magazine Nights’ were meetings that were devoted to the reading of original essays (or occasionally poems) written by group members that were submitted to the Magazine Editor beforehand. The Editor would be responsible for collecting, occasionally selecting, and reading the pieces aloud to the group (more rarely this was done by the contributor him/herself) on the appointed night. This would be followed by ‘criticism’ — or discussion on the piece’s positive and negative points — by the group members.

After the meetings, these contributions were sometimes bound and saved in the society’s library (if they had one) or would be kept by one of the office bearers. In these cases, it was intended that the magazine was to be preserved and that group members would have access to it at a later date. It is of note that literary and mutual improvement groups used the term ‘magazine’ to refer to the oral as well as the material medium.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Govan Parish Young Men’s Association (later became the Govan Parish Young Men’s Literary Association) (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

11 Oct. 1876-?

Date of Magazine

1906, 1907

Number of Issues

Magazine Evenings (unknown if contributions were preserved)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

(Presumably unpublished manuscripts)

Contents and Contributions

(presumably non-fiction articles and essays)

Repository

Glasgow City Archives

Reference

1. Govan Parish Young Men’s Association Minute Book, 1886-92 (CH2/1277/50);

2. Govan Parish Young Men’s Association Minute Book, 1892-1903 (CH2/1277/51);

3. Govan Parish Literary Association Minute Book, 1903-1913 (CH2/1277/52)

Additional Notes

See also entry for Govan Parish Young Men’s Association on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

A summary of the history of the Original Union Club is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

According to a newspaper clipping, this group was more of a social drinking club whose members met in a local pub to raise toasts and read their original poems. If the poems were thought to be particularly good, they were recorded in the club’s scrapbook kept for the purpose. To date, no evidence has been found for the scrapbook in the local archives.

This club was one of many groups in Scotland and England (and beyond) during the long nineteenth century where we know that a scrapbook or magazine was produced from evidence provided by the society’s records (or other documentation), but it does not appear to have survived.

It is debatable whether or not these societies should be included in this study. However, we would argue that it is still important to include them in a study of associational periodical production as, at the very least, they add to the quantitative evidence for this type of practice.

More broadly, it is hoped that by at least recording the evidence for a magazine’s production, future work and/or further discoveries might bring to light these missing issues amongst private holdings and (more) public archives.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Original Union Club (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1831?-?

Date of Magazine

circa 1831-32

Number of Issues

1 (unknown if scrapbook extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Poems (original)

Repository

(See newspaper clipping in Young’s Scrapbooks, housed in Mitchell Library Special Collections)

Reference

(Young’s Scrapbooks, Vol. 21, p. 54)

Additional Notes

See also entry for Original Union Club on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

A summary of the history of the Western Scientific Association is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

The members of this all-male group wrote down the papers that they gave at the meetings into a society year book. Thomas Lugton (the attributed author of the 1907 newspaper article from which this information comes) seems to have a copy of the group’s 1894 volume to hand, as he gives details on the contributors, a bit of their respective histories subsequent to their membership in the association, and critiques each contribution. (For more information about Thomas Lugton, see ‘Additional Notes’ below.)

According to the article, there are 78 articles in the 1849 volume. Most of these seem to be essays, fiction and non-fiction, but there are also a few poems. The volume also includes artwork, of which there is at least one illustration and one etching.

Lugton tells us there are 63 signed and 15 unsigned articles, and in the case of some of the latter pieces, he is able to work out who the author was, and it seems this group had some remarkable members. The contributors to the society year book went on to become notable figures in Glasgow and beyond. To give a couple of examples, the first essay, described by Lugton as ‘[a] short and lively tale with a long title’ called ‘The House on the Hill, or The Fratricide, a Tale of the 17^th Century,” was written by one John Trayner, who was later to become Lord Trayner LLD (1834–1929). (For more information on Trayner see ‘John Trayner, Lord Trayner‘ on Wikipedia, the entry for ‘John Trayner‘ on The University of Glasgow Story website, and a painting entitled ‘John Trayner (1834–1929), Lord Trayner‘, which was painted by George Reid (1841–1913) on the ArtUK website.)

The author of another article entitled, ‘History’, who had his own tripartite classificatory system of ‘the fabulous’, ‘the doubtful’, and ‘the authentic’, signed himself ‘M.G.’. Lugton identifies this as Matthew Gass. Gass (1830-?) was a Georgeite reform agitator. Influenced by Chartism in his youth, in his adult life, he was renowned for his influential speeches on Glasgow Green and the many pamphlets he published calling for labour and land reforms. (For more information on Gass, see ‘Testimonial to a Veteran Reformer’, The Single Tax, Vol. VI, No. 69, February 1900, pp. 130-1. See ‘Additional Information on The Single Tax.)

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Western Scientific Association (Glasgow)

Date of Existence

1843-?

Date of Magazine

1849

Number of Issues

1 (unknown if still extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

Art/illustrations (original); Articles (non-fiction); Essays; Fiction/Narrative; Poems (original)

Repository

(Currently unknown if any copies extant)

Reference

–

Additional Notes

See also entry for Western Scientific Association on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.

Thomas Lugton was a member of the Old Glasgow Club in the early twentieth century. This group first met in 1900, and is still running. Members still meet twice a month to read papers and discuss the history of Glasgow. Some of these papers (including Lugton’s) have been published. See the club’s new website here: Old Glasgow Club. As a member of this club, Lugton himself would have been a scholar of the history of the city. You can see examples of the papers he gave in a list of the Transactions of the club between 1903 and 1908 on the club’s old website here: ‘Transactions Volume 1 – Numbers 1 to 5 (1903 to 1908)’, Old Glasgow Club.

For more information about The Single Tax, see ‘The Single Tax‘ on Wikipedia. This newspaper has not yet been digitised by the British Newspaper Archive. Copies are available at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow and the British Library, London.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Longsight Wesleyan Mutual Improvement Society (Manchester)

Date of Existence

1880-1904

Date of Magazine

1892-1893?

Number of Issues

(at least 1; no longer extant)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

(Manuscript?)

Contents and Contributions

Repository

Manchester Archives and Local Studies

Reference

(Magazines are mentioned in Minutes of this society: GB127.M114/6/4/1 (2 Vols.))

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Wesley Proprietary Grammar School/Wesley College Mutual Improvement Society (Sheffield)

Date of Existence

1875?-?

Date of Magazine

1875

Number of Issues

1

Manuscript/Published Magazine

(Manuscript?)

Contents and Contributions

Repository

Sheffield Archives

Reference

X552/1

The evidence for the Jedburgh Mutual Improvement Association and its magazine comes solely from an article in a local newspaper, The Jedburgh Gazette. A further investigation of the local press and archives may provide further information on this group.

According to the article, in January 1883, the Jedburgh Mutual Improvement Association held its first annual social meeting, which was apparently a big success, having such a large attendance that extra tables had to be assembled to accommodate all the guests. The newspaper report provides a list of important personages who attended, which included local politicians and prominent local business leaders. A deputation from the Crailing Literary Association was also present. (Crailing is a small community located approximately four miles to the north of Jedburgh; although small, community members in the late nineteenth century apparently wished to have its own literary association.)

Following tea, the Chairman — the President of the association, Mr James Cree — gave a speech, and discussed the formation of the mutual improvement association. The group had been running for ‘one year and a few months’. He said that the group’s name was the most eloquent way of giving the association’s object and purpose. He goes on to elucidate their goals:

‘What we seek is to cultivate habits of research and study; the ability to justify and the courage to maintain in a rational way the opinions we form; the expression of thoughts in language that is clear and precise; and the respectful toleration of the honest convictions of others. This, you will see, is largely a work of self-improvement. It is not, however, a selfish work […] the improvement of the individual is to the advantage of the community […]’ (‘Jedburgh Mutual Improvement Association. Social Meeting’, The Jedburgh Gazette, 20 January 1883, p. 3).

According to Cree, at the weekly meetings, members engaged in debates, gave speeches, readings, and produced a manuscript magazine. Membership was apparently growing steadily, and was open to men of all ages. To extend their ‘usefulness’, lectures were opened to the public with an admission charge. No other details regarding the group’s magazine are given.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Jedburgh Mutual Improvement Association

Date of Existence

1882-?

Date of Magazine

(1882-1883?)

Number of Issues

(currently unknown)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

(currently unknown)

Repository

Heritage Hub, Hawick (The Jedburgh Gazette)

Reference

A summary of the history of the Renfield Free Church Young Men’s Society is available on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds (see ‘Additional Notes’ below).

At a meeting of this society held on 28 April 1868, it is recorded that two men (who were later to briefly become joint editors) were to form a  committee to look into the feasibility of starting a manuscript magazine for the group, and they were to make a report at the next meeting. The society discussed the report at the second meeting in the 1868-1869 session, and the matter was approved, so long as they were ‘economical in the matter of paper’. This highlights the fact that like most small societies, costs were an important factor in the decision to establish a magazine.

The ‘Report of [the] Committee appointed at [a] meeting of [the] Renfield Association, April 28th 1868, on [the] proposed Association Magazine’ can be found at the back of the group’s minute book and makes for interesting reading: this document is a rare example where the thought and care that went into the planning and execution of a society magazine is documented and preserved.

The committee couches the formation of the new magazine within the framework of an existing culture for society manuscript magazines already being produced in the city. It recommended having a monthly magazine, that the paper be provided by the association, and that the magazine should be bound. Circulation would be restricted to the members, and the list that would accompany the periodical would be constructed according to the proximity of members to each other, beginning and ending with the Editor/s. The committee also gave a full list of the Editors’ duties. The cost of the paper (approximately 50 sheets), ruling and binding of the magazine was estimated at 2s 6d per month.

However, we know very little about the magazine that was actually produced: interestingly, outwith the noting of the periodic change of editors for various reasons, there is no mention of the production of the magazines in the minutes.

At the close of the 1867-1868 session, there were 22 members on the roll, which dropped to 10 in this society’s very last session. This means that from the time of its proposal to the dissolving of the group, there was a decreasing number of members that would have contributed to this magazine.

We do know that there were in total six issues or ‘parts’, and that at the last meeting, they were allocated to six group members who are named.

Name of Club, Society or Group That Produced the Magazine

Renfield Free Church Young Men’s Society

Date of Existence

26 February 1851-18 January 1870

Date of Magazine

1868-1870

Number of Issues

6 (Nos. 1-6)

Manuscript/Published Magazine

Manuscript

Contents and Contributions

(unknown)

Repository

(Glasgow City Archives)

Reference

(See: Glasgow, Renfield Free Church, U.F., Young Men’s Society minutes, 1851-69, CH3/1166/13)

Additional Notes

See also entry for Renfield Free Church Young Men’s Society on our sister website, Glasgow’s Literary Bonds.