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Oral history project carried out by Jois Stansfield for MSc Health History at University of Strathclyde.

This is believed to be the first oral history of speech and language therapy in the UK. Early members of the speech and language therapy profession were recruited from retirement networks and via the professional body, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. Interviews were held across England and Scotland, taking a life-story approach with each participant. Personal testimony, previously unheard, from these pioneers of the profession demonstrates the degree to which these women were products of their age, class and gender and the individual ways in which they negotiated challenges in their personal and professional lives.

Oral history project conducted in 1989 by Glasgow Museums with eight former workers in the Clydeside shipbuilding industry. The project documents, from the workers' own perspectives, life in Glasgow's shipbuilding industry in the 1930s and 1940s, and includes their recollections of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Based along the river Clyde in the west of Scotland, the Glasgow shipbuilding industry grew dramatically in the late 19th century, becoming one of the world's major centres of shipbuilding construction, employing tens of thousands of people in a host of different firms, constructing ocean liners, steamships and battleships, for export around the world. At the turn of the 20th century, Glasgow was responsible for a large proportion of the world's ship production. After suffering a severe downturn during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Glasgow shipbuilding industry went into terminal decline in the post-war decades, and by the 1990s was at a fraction of its former capacity.

The interviewees held the following occupations within the shipbuilding industry:

• shipwright/boilermaker
• 2 x shipyard blacksmith
• 2 x shipwright
• caulker
• ship's plumber
• marine engineer
  In addition, one of the interviewees (Pat McChrystal) describes in detail a myriad of other roles, and the overall process of ship construction.

The interviews reference a range of shipbuilding companies on the Clyde, including Fairfields, Alexander Stephen & Sons, and Harland & Wolff. As most interviewees spent most of their working lives in the industry, interviews chart the career trajectories of workers, often involving changes of role and employer, including time spent in the broader industrial marine ecology of the Clyde, such as the merchant navy and ship repairers. Comments are also made on wages, hours of work, the hierarchy within jobs, and differences in skilled/semi-skilled labour.

Most of the interviewees started their working lives in the 1930s and 1940s in the shipyards. Although the interviewees talk about their working lives across the decades, most of the specific detail focuses on their experiences in the yards in the 1930s and 1940s. The impact of the Great Depression of the 1930s is a notable feature of the material, and this period's effect on the shipbuilding industry on the Clyde is described. In particular, the interviewees outline the personal impact of the collapse in shipbuilding, describing the impact of periods of prolonged unemployment. The development of cycling and hostelling around Scotland as a popular leisure activity for unemployed men in the 1930s is also featured.

One interview is with Andy McMahon, a former shipbuilder, who was also the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Govan, between 1979 and 1983. Leaving school at 14, McMahon became an apprentice in the Fairfield shipyard in the early 1930s and later became a trade union shop steward. McMahon describes his periods of unemployment during the depression of the 1930s, and details his emerging political consciousness in the shipyards in this period, which included membership of the Communist Party and being blacklisted for political activism.

The interviews cover the entrance of the worker into the shipbuilding industry, which was typically on leaving school, aged 14 or 15. The interviewees discuss parental attitudes towards employment, as well as the influence of fathers - who typically were also employed in the shipyards - in securing work. All entrants to the shipyards underwent a 5 year apprenticeship, leading to a skilled trade, and this apprenticeship period is heavily described in the material, including entrance examinations, rival gang fights, an apprentice strike in the 1930s, and the impact of the Great Depression.

The interviews also document everyday experiences in the workplace environment. There is material on interviewees' day-to-day routines, detailing the challenges and tasks required by specific roles within the shipbuilding process, often going into detail regarding specific industrial techniques, typically involving skilled manual labour. Interviews also cover the various tools and equipment used to perform specific roles, and comment is often made on the provision and availability of tools. Interviewees frequently discuss how they were expected to make their own tools. The impact of new technology in the shipbuilding industry is also touched upon.

The interviews also provide details of the working conditions in the shipyards. Interviewees often describe the conditions of the shipyards which they encountered on leaving school and starting work there. Frequent comment is made on the physical conditions of life in the shipyards (noise levels, extreme heat, working outdoors in winter etc), the provision of specialist equipment (or lack of), and the various strategies adopted to ameliorate demanding conditions. The sheer physical demands of the work is often commented on, and the provision of on-site facilities (eg. canteens, toilets) - or lack of - is also outlined. Interviews also cover the health and safety procedures (or lack of) in the shipyards, describing workplace accidents, workplace risks to injury, and exposure to hazardous substances, including asbestos.

The interviews also document industrial relations within the shipyards. Interviewees discuss their relationships with management, the distinct dress codes of different groups, and management attitudes towards workers. Interviewees also outline their relationships with foremen, who were responsible for day-to-day oversight of ship workers, described by one interviewee as "very powerful". Discussion also takes place on workplace discipline, and penalties for infringements. Interviews also feature material on the development of trade union activity in the shipyards, as well as the campaigns for improved wages and conditions in the 1930s. Workers also discuss their myriad grievances in relation to their working conditions: no teabreaks, low wages, no pension, no holiday pay, lack of tools, "hire and fire" culture. Some interviewees also reference Catholic/Protestant relations in the shipyards, detailing practices of discrimination and sectarian attitudes.

Some of the interviews feature life in the shipyards during WWII. Interviewees discuss the "boom time" of the industry, the changing focus towards warships and merchant fleet, and the new influx of people into shipbuilding. In particular, comment is made on the arrival of women workers in the shipyards during WWII, undertaking traditionally male roles.

Incoming letters to Hugh Lang, mainly from his plantation manager, William Peebles, and various merchants, relating to the management of his estates in St. Croix in the Danish West Indies. Topics include the production of sugar, rum and molasses; the effects of the weather on production; shipments and sales of sugar, rum and molasses; sugar, rum and molasses prices and state of the markets; shortage of labourers; the provision of supplies to the estates; the valuation and sale of the Estate William. There are also some letters from family members including Ann Beckett of St. Croix (Lang's daughter); George Zachariae of Copenhagen (Lang's son-in-law); and Alexander and Lizzie Eckford, of India (Lizzie Eckford is Lang's niece).

Copy of 'The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth', awarded to John Armour as Dux of Allan Glen's School, session 1917-1918; Arkela Badge certificate, granted to John Armour, District Cubmaster, West Glasgow, 19 October 1923; short story written by John Armour, entitled 'A Comedy of the Kirk'; copy of a photograph taken on the occasion of John Armour's 90th birthday.

Drawings; notebooks; certificates and diplomas; obituary; student ephemera; published articles; testimonials; articles of association and share certificates for Baird Television Limited; press cuttings and publications relating to John Logie Baird.

• Management committee papers
• Annual reports
• Financial records
• Estates and buildings records
• Certificates of accreditation of courses
• Prospectuses
• Course leaflets
• Handbooks for international students
• Examination papers
• Awards ceremony programmes
• Student records
• Prize and scholarship records
• Uniforms
• Student memorabilia
• Group photographs
• Internationale Kochkunst Grosser Preis medal
• Function menus
• Visitors' books
• News cuttings books
• Year books and newsletters
• Teaching aids
• Published articles about the Scottish Hotel School
• Corporate merchandise
• Board game entitled 'Who wants to be a hotelier'
• Certificate of corporate membership of Hospitality Action
• Scottish Hotel School Library records

University of Strathclyde undergraduate student cards for sessions 1976-1977 and 1978-1979; University of Strathclyde jumper; memorandum announcing awards of BA (Hons) Accountancy degrees to students in the School of Business and Administration at the University of Strathclyde; copy of graduation photograph; cutting from an unidentified [company?] publication, containing a photograph of Margaret Bradley and stating her date of joining and her qualification from the University of Strathclyde; Chartered Association of Certified Accountants student registration card; certificate of completion of a course on Computer Applications for the Expanding Business at North Glasgow College; Glasgow North Housing Association staff name badge.

Papers of the Rev. William Drury, a founder member of the English Linear Cities Association, relating to his research and thinking in linear city planning. Contents include:

Drury's research notes and card index; English Linear Cities Association publications (written by Drury and others), 1930s; typed and printed articles by Drury, 1921-1943; letters to Drury, 1930s; letters to Irene Drury, Drury's widow, from George Collins, Associate Professor of Art History, Columbia University, 1960s; Association des Cités-Jardins de France 35th annual report, 1939; report entitled 'The Motor Road - Forerunner of the Universal City' by C. Theodore Larson, 1963; newspaper cuttings, 1930s-1960s; biographical information about Drury.

The Strathclyde collection comprises printed or published material by or about the University of Strathclyde and its staff. There are three components to the collection:

• Strathclyde staff collection comprising publications by members of staff of the University, including monographs or other publications (except periodical articles) of which a member of staff is prominent as an author, compiler, editor, translator, illustrator, consultant, etc during their University employment.

• Strathclyde official collection comprising publications of the University or its constituent organisations, including: official publications of the University as a whole; publications of departments and faculties; student, staff and graduate association publications.

• Strathclyde serial collection comprising serial/journal publications, newspapers, newsletters and annuals of the University or its constituent organisations, including: official publications of the University as a whole; publications of departments and faculties; student, staff and graduate association publications.

General information about the department, [1987] and undated; information about undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered by the Department, 1964-[1988] and undated; General Studies course material, 1956-1964; information about the research programme in Literary Linguistics, 1986, 1988; departmental poetry and short story competition prizewinning poems and selection of entries, 1970-2002; guidelines on essay writing and examination technique, [1995]-2000; departmental undergraduate handbooks, 1994-2003; notice advertising Town and Gown seminar in Royal College, 1981; literary linguistics conference programme, 1986.

Papers of initial meetings to set up Trust, 1967; minutes and papers, 1968-1971; correspondence, 1971-1972; financial records, 1967-1973; papers for Glasgow Corporation's House Improvement and Rehabilitation conference held at City Hall, 8 February 1971; circulars on housing trusts including Christian Aid (Glasgow) Housing Association Limited, 1967.

Conversations between Neil Rafeek and two men who spent their working lives as laggers in the Clydeside heavy industries. Topics covered include childhood and growing up in Glasgow, the Clydebank blitz, housing, domestic life, social life, football, sectarianism, gang culture, National Service, working conditions, trade unions, health and safety, asbestos.

Includes notes and draft publications relating to a project about the working culture and notions of masculinity in Clydeside heavy industries.

Oral history project, conducted in 2009 by David Walker of the Scottish Oral History Centre at the University of Strathclyde on behalf of Glasgow Museums, interviewing those who had earned their living working at Glasgow’s docks. A total of 17 men were selected as suitable for the project but in the end only 12 participated, with some becoming ill and others unavailable for interview. Although a smaller cohort was used than originally intended it did provide a representative sample of workers with experience of most of the docks that operated along the Upper Clyde at Glasgow and its environs. The group also had experience of many of the jobs undertaken such as electrician, plan maker and superintendent stevedore, plater, winch operator, checker, and crane driver. One additional respondent was interviewed who had never worked at the docks but had lived at Shiels Farm and had witnessed the opening of the still operational King George V dock in 1931. The average age of those interviewed was 72 with birth dates ranging from 1926 to 1947. All of the interviews were conducted at the respondent’s home with one exception which was conducted at the Scottish Oral History Centre.

The interviews were semi-structured in style which allowed the respondents to talk beyond their working lives. Hence the testimonies provide evidence of the daily work and conditions in which their working lives were undertaken but they also touch on other aspects of their lives, including family relationships, early job opportunities and trade union activities. The respondents were not only generous in donating their memories but also in providing photographic images which help illustrate the people interviewed, the types of ships that they worked on, buildings now demolished, and tasks undertaken such as handling large steel slabs, grain, coal or scrap iron. Although each interview was conducted separately there was some overlap in the recollections mainly due to the fact that many of the men knew each other as workmates and inevitably they were exposed to similar events in their careers.

Oral history project conducted in 2016 by Rory Stride as research for his undergraduate history dissertation, ‘“Proud to be a Clyde shipbuilder. Clyde built”: The changing work identity of Govan’s shipbuilders, c.1960-present.’ The collection comprises interviews with seven men who were employed as shipbuilders between c.1960 and 2016 at Govan’s three shipyards: Alexander Stephen and Sons, Fairfield’s, and Harland and Wolff. The interviews were conducted in a variety of places across Glasgow. The interview questions were semi-structured and largely directed by the responses of the participants. Topics discussed include trade unions, working conditions, occupational injury, masculinity, politics, staff camaraderie, redundancy and periods of employment at different companies. There is a focus throughout the interviews on indicators and expression of masculine identity including alcohol consumption, paid employment and macho attitudes in the yards. The interviews also cover the workers' interactions with the trade union movement, focusing on their experiences of strike action. In addition, some of the key episodes in the Clyde’s shipbuilding history during the twentieth century are covered including: the closure of Harland and Wolff; the closure of Alexander Stephen and Sons; the Norwegian company Kvaerner’s takeover of the Fairfield yard from British Shipbuilders in 1988 and the withdrawal of Kvaerner from Govan in 1999 which threatened the existence of shipbuilding on the Clyde heading in to the twenty-first century.