Scottish History Society

Scottish History Society
AbbreviationSHS
Formation1886; 138 years ago (1886)
FounderEarl of Rosebery
Registration no.SC005043
Legal statusCharity
Location
President
Dr Catriona MacDonald
Websitescottishhistorysociety.com

The Scottish History Society is a historical and text publication society, which promotes the study of and research in the history of Scotland.[1]

It was founded in 1886, as part of the late 19th-century revival in interest in Scottish national identity.[2] The Society was founded as a result of a letter from the Earl of Rosebery (later to serve as Prime Minister, from 1894–95), published in The Scotsman on 3 February 1886,[3] and Rosebery became the first President of the Society.

The first president of the Society defined its work as "the humble and unobtrusive task of letting everyman know, in so far as in us lies, and so far as documentary evidence exists, how our forebears lived and worked and carried on the business of their country in their separate spheres."[4]

The Society has a council of scholars representing most of the universities in Scotland and some beyond, as well as other institutions.

  1. ^ "The Society".
  2. ^ "The Scottish History Society — History". The Scottish History Society, School of History, University of St Andrews. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  3. ^ Dickson, W. K. (1936). Scottish History Society: Fifty years, 1886-1936. Scottish History Society.
  4. ^ Tindley, Annie (2015). "The Scottish History Society: 130 Years of Promoting the Best in Scottish History Scholarship" (PDF). Scottish Archives. 21: 9.