A major project which could shatter the myths about Dundee's history is to take place at the University of Dundee.
Following a £25,000 grant from the Philip Fleming Charitable Trust, announced today, the second phase of the Department of History's Dundee Project will explore life in the city between 1500 and 1841, including the period when it was ranked as Scotland's second city.
Details of the project will be announced at this evening's opening of Painting in Dundee, an exhibition on loan from the Fleming Collection, named after Dundee-born international financier Robert Fleming. His son, Philip, set up a charitable trust in the 1950s, the trustees of which decided to fund the history project because of the Flemings' Dundee connection.
A particular focus of the project will be the period between 1620 to 1720, when Renaissance Dundee occupied the position of Scotland's second city and wine, spices and other goods imported from abroad invariably came ashore at Dundee. Several times the size of Aberdeen or Glasgow, its huge international port made it as important to Scotland as Lyon was to France or Bristol was to England.
The great famine which hit Scotland between 1694 and 1700, wiping out up to 20 per cent of its population, is generally thought to be one of the reasons why Dundee slipped from its second position. However, there is evidence to suggest that the famine's effect on Dundee was not as disastrous as was first thought and, because of its huge port, it continued to thrive.
Professor Charles McKean, who will lead the Dundee Project said, " The port took delivery of the building materials for the Royal palaces, received animal skins from the Native Americans and is believed to have been the destination of the first ever Russian convoy of ships to visit Britain in 1798. In the 1780's, probably more than half the population worked in port or export-related activities, while American and Russian voices - as well as the Press-Gang - could probably be heard around the city. The study will retrieve the city's lost quality and culture and should shed more light on activities in Dundee during this period and the impact they had on the city's development."
Other research topics to be explored include health and sickness in early modern Dundee, the level of culture and material consumption and the Georgian City Architects. A book will be published in around three years, a "prequel" to "Victorian Dundee - Image and Realities", published in 2000 following phase one of the project.*
Head of the History department, Professor Chris Whatley said, " Phase one of the Dundee Project made a national and international impact and the work contributed to the History department's "five" rating in last year's Research Assessment Exercise. The period we shall explore in phase two has been largely overlooked by historians and subsequently we know very little about it. We will appoint a full-time researcher to look at a variety of government and legal records, enabling us to build up a fuller and clearer picture of urban life and society in Dundee than we have ever had before."
For more information about the Dundee Project, please contact Professor Charles McKean on 01382 345738
For more information about Painting in Dundee or the Fleming Collection, please contact the press office.
Note to Editors:
THE DUNDEE PROJECT
The first phase of the Dundee Project was successfully completed with the publication of the study of 19th century Dundee - Victorian Dundee - Image and Realities, edited by Louise Miskell, Chris Whatley and Bob Harris (East Linton, 2000). It was published to considerable acclaim, was recognisedby the Scottish Parliament, and was greeted by a conference in September 2000. It revealed a Dundee very different to that of mythology of 'Juteopolis', with much greater social integration and cultural aspiration than had been thought.