Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry
[2] The aim of the event was to fund a Chair of Scottish History and Literature at the University of Glasgow, with the Exhibition Prospectus quoting the resolution of a March 1909 meeting: "the time had fully arrived when Scottish history should be placed on a differing plane from that which it had hitherto occupied in the education of the rising generations.[4] The fair was held close to the River Kelvin structured around the Stewart Memorial and included a Palaces of History (based on the Falkland Palace,[5] Industries, and Art, a Concert Hall and an Aviation Building as well as exhibits of Decorative Art.The latter comprised around 100 individuals, including children, from Equatorial Africa, the French Congo, Dahomey and Sudan.[8] The language of the exhibition pamphlet ('Souvenir of a Visit to the West African Colonies') reveals racist attitudes toward these groups as primitive, or unclean, and discussed their countries mainly in terms of what benefit they brought to the colonising country.Profits from the fair successfully funded the establishment of a Chair of Scottish History and Literature at the University of Glasgow in 1913; the post originally being filled by Robert Rait.
The University's tower overlooking the site of the exhibition
Kelvin river running through the site of the exhibition.