Towards a New History of the Saltire Society: Two Essays

The Saltire Society, founded in 1936, has long held a leading role among modern Scottish cultural organizations. Ninety years on, its early history merits a fresh look, as the Society looks forward to its centenary and assesses its future. The two essays published here, on particular aspects of that history, orignate from a project on the history of the Saltire Society, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and led by Prof. Gerard Carruthers of the University of Glasgow. In the first essay, Dr Sarah Leith brings out the central contribution of women to the Society, including that made by the indefatigable Alison Bonfield Sheppard, the historian Agnes Mure Mackenzie, and the artist Joan Hassall. In the second essay, Dr Scott Lyall brings into sharp focus the Saltire Society's context in the 20th century Scottish literary 'Renaissance', and the international Modernist movement, both before and after the Second World War.