The next presentation in the Friends of the Argyll Papers seminar series 2021/22, will take place on Friday 18 Feb 2022 at 19:30 GMT when Dr Katie McCullough, National Coalition of Independent Scholars, will be talking about ‘Non-Landlord Economic Development in the Argyll Papers’.

Historians of social life and economic change in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries have tended to focus on the improving efforts of the landed gentry, such as the 5th Duke of Argyll. This presentation uses material from the Argyll Papers to explores economic development from the perspective of those lower down the social scale (such as tacksmen). It presents the history of industrial woollen manufacturing in Kintyre by the merchant Daniel Clark, founder of the Achaleek Woolen Company. Though the company ultimately failed, Clark’s project built on previous efforts to develop industrial woollen manufacturing in Argyll that were inspired by emerging Enlightenment political economy. It is also an example of non-landlord improvement that so rarely makes it into the history of economic and social development of the Highlands and Islands. The article based on this research appears in Scottish Archives 25/26 (2019-2021).

The seminar will be given on Zoom.

Attendance at the seminar is free to members of the Friends. Non-members are asked to make a £5 donation to the Friends at Donate to Friends of the Argyll Papers (enthuse.com).

Everyone who wishes to attend needs to book a place for the seminar via eventbrite at: https://www.facebook.com/events/618662132912183 or by emailing Alison at: friendsoftheargyllpapers@gmail.com

Dr. Katie McCullough is an independent researcher and author who specializes in the economic and social history, specifically community formation in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and indigenous-settler relations in Canada. Katie is currently a researcher for the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs and is the former Director of the Centre for Scottish Studies and Shadbolt Fellow in the Humanities at Simon Fraser University. Her co-authored book Scots and Mohawks in Early Canada will be published by Edinburgh University Press.