What were the Students at St Andrews University Reading after the French Revolution? How does this compare to the Gentry’s Consumption of Literature in that Period? Olivia Gardener, University of Glasgow Supervisor: Matthew Sangster, Senior Lecturer in Romantic Studies, University of Glasgow Research Topic Methodology My research with the ‘Books and Borrowing’ project aimed to uncover and understand what influence the French Revolution had on the reading habits of the students at St Andrews University in Scotland I transcribed St Andrews University library bookborrowing registers, targeting my transcription on the academic years 1788-9 and 1789-90 within the borrowing registers I compared my findings to the well-documented private library Craigston Castle in Aberdeenshire as well as Leighton Library, a subscription library in Dunblane This allowed me to understand not only the academic and political impact of the French Revolution in Scotland, but also go further by examining to what extent the reading practices of students differed from the gentry’s I was given access to the ‘Books and Borrowing’ system which is a custom content management scheme backed by a MySQL database This database is designed to align with international standards and with other projects meaning my final data can be used with numerous other data sets I also used Excel Spreadsheets to analyse large chunks of data which had already been entered into the system, for example data from both the Craigston and Leighton Libraries I also published two blog posts which were created on WordPress and posted to a public website for everyone and anyone to view St Andrews University Students Findings The records I transcribed from the borrowing registers for St Andrews University students were undoubtably heavily concerned with classical subjects The reason for this was likely a curriculum with a stress on antiquarianism and Greco-Roman influence A popular example was Goldsmith’s Roman Histories and Grecian Histories, both borrowed multiple times by multiple students These were possibly key primary texts for university arts courses However, amongst this classical literature also lay texts such as Campbell’s Lives of the Admirals (1750), The Works of the Late Joseph Addison (1721), and the Memoirs of the Life and Actions of Oliver Cromwell (1740) The borrowings of works which follow military leaders or revolutionary figures, as well as texts which pose moral debates and social theory, could arguably be a result of an interest in the turmoil of the French Revolution However, it is also important to acknowledge that such borrowings could simply relate to leisurely reading for pleasure Craigston Castle Library and Leighton Library: Wider Gentry The data from both Craigston Castle and Leighton Library showed that gentry borrowers were not only looking at the history of France, shown through borrowings such as Anderson’s History of France (1775) and Russell’s The History of Modern Europe (1789) in five volumes, but they also turned to their own history through Guthrie’s General History of Scotland (1767) in ten volumes and Robertson’s History of Scotland (1759) which was withdrawn three times The French Revolution is also mirrored in the borrowings of works such as Reid’s Essays on the Active Powers of Man (1788) withdrawn five times and his Intellectual Power of Man (1785) This is further supported by the reading of works such as La nouvelle Heloise (1764) and Jean-Baptiste Rousseau’s Oeuvres diverses de Mr Rousseau (1728) in three volumes Conclusions I argue that the Revolution in France had a stark influence on the borrowings of both the students at St Andrew’s University and the borrowings of the wider gentry The Revolution not only spurred borrowers to examine general histories, particularly the history of their own nation, but also engage in philosophical and moral works and debates, such as Millar’s The Origin and Distinction of Ranks (1781) and both Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776) in two volumes and Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759); the subjects of which cover the nature of man and the structure of society Although borrowings of a classical nature remained popular, particularly with students, the French Revolution undoubtably captured the interest of both academics and upper-class readers and in turn, influenced their book borrowings Craigston Castle Library, Aberdeenshire Leighton Library, Dunblane St Andrews University Library, St Andrews (The libraries as they currently stand) Case Studies As part of my project, I completed two case studies, one detailing the borrowings of a St Andrews University student in the late eighteenth century and a Professor who taught at the University of Glasgow and was particularly interested in war and revolution around the time of the French Revolution These case studies aimed to provide a more in-depth analysis of the data I was transcribing as well as provide two interesting characters to take center-stage in my blog posts (linked below) Student: David Brichan After transcribing Brichan’s borrowing records from the ledger, I undertook a blog which detailed my experience with transcription as well as delving into a student’s borrowings; attempting to interpret and analyse Brichan’s borrowings whilst also contextualising them in terms of the revolution which was underway in France Brichan’s borrowings show him travelling throughout both time and space; like many students, trying to grasp the world before entering it as a graduate BLOG: https://borrowing.stir.ac.uk/david-brichanthe-borrowings-of-a-st-andrews-university-student/ Professor: John Anderson John Anderson graduated from the University of Glasgow with an MA in 1745 and was later appointed the Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University His unorthodox teaching practices not only revolutionised the way lecturers educated their students, but his liberal beliefs also offered education opportunities to the lower classes Anderson’s sympathies with the revolution in France are embodied in the slogan ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’ BLOG: https://borrowing.stir.ac.uk/john-andersonprofessor-philosopher-and-military-man/ Contribution to the Wider Academic Field I transcribed never-before studied material which was unusable as a resource before I embarked on this project This material can now be used by other scholars in the field in their own research My research and conclusions can be used for further study and can be compared with a wider range of sources in Scotland and beyond My write up and blogs are the first on these registers and form a small part of a larger project