The Spirit of Revolt Archive, based in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
(
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
), is dedicated to collecting, managing and preserving multi-media records from Glasgow’s and
Clydeside
Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...
’s
anarchist and
libertarian-socialist movement. It is a ‘community archive’, largely run by volunteers. It was constituted in August 2011 and today forms part of Glasgow City Archives’ collection whilst maintaining its organisational independence. Its catalogue will join the
National Records of Scotland
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in 2013. The archive derives its name from the title of an 1880 pamphlet by the Russian anarchist
Peter Kropotkin.
The archive’s digitised documents are hosted on www.archive.org.
For its initial scoping and start-up phase, Spirit of Revolt Archive was funded by the
Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust which seeks to ‘advance public education, learning and knowledge in all aspects of the philosophy of Marxism, the history of socialism, and the working-class movement’.
Material selected for retention in the archive provides one or more of the following: evidence of a campaign, movement, organisation, or individual’s activities; information pertinent to the anarchist movement, e.g., expositions of anarchist ideology, political positions, rationale behind activities; an insight into membership and associates of anarchist organisations; evidence of the impact of anarchism culturally and politically. Material from political parties is not collected, according to archival policy.
In January 2013, the archive organised an exhibition, called ‘Radical Presses Clydeside – 100 Years of Autonomous Protest Literature’ at Glasgow’s
Mitchell Library
The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland.
History
The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...
.
In March 2013, Spirit of Revolt was represented at the 19th "Alternative Futures and Popular Protest" conference at
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...
.
Spirit of Revolt Archive also works in conjunction with
Radical Glasgow's Strugglepedia which gives information about Glasgow's radical history.
References
{{Authority control
Archives in the United Kingdom
Anarchism