| Administrative History | The Aberdeen Clarion Club was formed with the intention of being radical and revolutionary. It was an offshoot of the Social Democrats of the time, and flourished from 1899 to 1909.
According to the minutes, the Aberdeen Clarion Club was founded on 29 September 1899, "on the lines indicated by Arnold Allcard (possibly Allard) in the "Clarion" of 9 September 1899. The Clarion was a socialist weekly established by Robert Blatchford, a Manchester journalist, in 1890. Rule 2 of the club states "That the Club would exist for the study and public discussion of all questions relating to Literature, Science, Art and the Drama, viewed from the Socialist standpoint." The Club met regularly, although it seems not in the summer, for lectures and social events. In the spring of 1909 there are references to poor attendance and at the annual business meeting on 24th September there is a proposal (not agreed to) that the Club should be dissolved. After that there is only one further entry for a committee meeting noted in the volumes. |
| Source | The volumes were presented by Mr. J.M. Smith in 1964, ex libris Dr. J.B. Duncan. James Bruce Duncan, (1848-1917), minister and folksong collector, was born in 1848 in the Aberdeenshire parish of New Deer. He graduated MA at Aberdeen University in 1869, and was ordained minister of the United Free Church at Lynturk near Alford, Aberdeenshire in 1876 and served there until his death in 1917. From 1903 he collaborated with Gavin Greig (1856 - 1914) in the recording of the extensive collection of folksong and ballad MSS which was subsequently deposited in Aberdeen University Library. |
| Description | Three notebooks of minutes covering the period 15 September 1899 to 6 October 1909. The minutes record the rules of the Club, lists of committee members and ordinary members, amounts of subscription, regularity and location of meetings, topics of lectures, on occasion detailed points of debate, names of speakers, and reports on social events and activities organised by the Club. |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the University Archivist and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. |