‘GAN THE MESSAGES’

Shops and Shopping in Scotland

In Days Gone By

Whether it was in a market town, city or rural village, shopping was very different in the past to today’s global consumption. You just need to look at the adverts in old newspapers and directories to see the variety of shops there were in any one community from dairies to grocers to cobblers to ironmongers. People used to have to do their shopping on a daily basis, buying small amounts so that perishables wouldn’t go off.

It was however, in the late Victorian period that the seeds of today’s shopping styles began. The industrial age brought new technology that allowed refrigeration of goods so that foods from overseas could be brought from abroad on the faster steamships. New public transport and greater leisure time allowed people to travel from outlying areas to the large city centres.

Department stores changed the whole notion of shopping; now you could find everything under one roof, even enjoy lunch and have your hair done as well! During this time the Co-operative Movement sprang up with its ethos of profit-sharing, allowing everyone the opportunity to buy good quality goods, using their Co-op dividend and tokens. Even in small towns the Co-op would have a large presence, and still thrives today.

We are fortunate in being able to see these changes captured through the early days of photography and film-making.

PROGRAMME

CHAIR: Elizabeth Carmichael

10.00amRegistration and coffee

10.35amWelcome

10.40am Marij van Helmond

Shopping at the Co-op

11.20am Brian Lambie

Shopkeeping in a Market Town

12.00 pmLunch

1.30pmLOCSCOT AGM

2.00pmFiona Musk

AberdeenCity Archives

Esslemont & MacIntosh collection

2.40 pmTea

3.00 pmRuth Washbrook,

Scottish Screen Archive

Moving image extracts

3.40 pmQuestions and Discussion

4.00 pmClose

Application Form

Name(s)______

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Address:______

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E-mail:______

Authority:______

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**remittance (£50 incl. VAT)

enclosed / Please invoice**

**Please delete whichever is inapplicable

Students/ Unwaged/ Senior Citizens (£40 incl VAT)

Cheques should be made payable to LOCSCOT

Closing dates for applications: Friday 3rd April.

Provisional applications may be made by telephone or e-mail but a completed application form must be received by the above date. Faxed applications are acceptable.

Please return to:Jo Sherington

Clydebank Library

Dumbarton Road

Clydebank G81 1XH

Telephone no:0141 562 2434

Fax no: 0141 562 2430

e-mail:

Marij van Helmond worked as a museum curator in Argyll & Bute until retirement in 2006. Marij now works as a consultant on museum topics such as exhibitions, interpretation, text writing etc.

Brian Lambie worked as an ironmonger in Biggar for 37 years, collecting on his way the contents of old businesses in the town as they made way for newer styles of shops. This collection formed the basis of what is now Biggar’s GladstoneCourtMuseum.

Fiona Musk works for Aberdeen City Archives and will talk about the collection from the Aberdeen Department store Esslemont & MacIntosh as well as other retail material in the Archives.

Ruth Washbrook is the Education & Outreach Officer at the Scottish Screen Archive. Ruth will discuss and show extracts from a DVD that is to be designed specifically for the use of libraries and local history centres.

‘GAN THE MESSAGES’

Shops and Shopping

in Scotland

in Days Gone By

SmithArtGallery and

Museum, Stirling

Wednesday

8thApril 2009