During 2024-2025, the Royal Society of Edinburgh funded a research project that began to mine the archives of the Saltire Society, held at the National Library of Scotland: ‘A History of the Saltire Society: Setting & Achieving National Cultural Priorities’ (2024-25). Grant Award Number: 3684. Principal Investigator was Gerard Carruthers, with collaboration from Dr Linden Bicket (University of Edinburgh), Dr Sarah Leith (University of St Andrews) and Dr Scott Lyall (University of Edinburgh Napier). The project was towards commemorating the 90th anniversary of the society, looking at both ‘origins’ and the society in the present moment. The project resulted in a symposium at the Society’s headquarters, a booklet published in 2026 by the University of South Carolina Press, Towards a New History of the Saltire Society: Two Essays and a short film, The Saltire Society Approaching 90, the latter incorporating interviews with current Saltire members reflecting on the society in 2025. This will appear on the Saltire website before the end of 2026.
Related to the project the NLS is running a display on the history of the society in its exhibition space, 2026-27, with an event on 20th October in the library, featuring short talks and additional material from the archives. The small RSE project was intended as a marker on the way to the society’s centenary and as stimulus towards a PhD on the society’s history, hopefully to be completed as it approaches 100. The archives and records of the society are extremely rich and warrant further, substantial scholarly investigation.
