University of Glasgow

UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

 
Part of the Library and University Services

Bruce Photographic Collection

image shows Bruce on the deck of the Scotia at Troon, 15 July 1902: Photo C1/43

Some 1400 stereoscopic glass photographic negatives made by William Speirs Bruce (1867-1921) on expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic between 1899 and 1914. The negatives include the Prince of Monaco's Arctic expedition on Princesse Alice, 1899, the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition on Scotia, 1902-1904, and the Scottish Arctic Expedition on Conqueror, 1909. The locations portrayed include Ascension Island, South Africa, the Falkland Islands, the South Orkney Islands, Spitzbergen, Norway and the Monaco Museum. The title and date are inscribed on most plates, probably by Bruce; numbers were added by a different hand in an arrangement by subject which does not retain the chronological sequence in which the photographs were taken. Included with the collection are albumen contact prints from some negatives, and some positive glass plates.

Please note that access to original photographic material is now strictly by appointment only and requires advance (a minimum of 24 hours) notice. Please contact the Special Collections Reading Room: 0141 330 6767 or special@lib.gla.ac.uk

Finding aids and descriptions

  • The collection of glass plates has the call number: Photo C1. (Other material is shelved at MS Gen 1720, MS Gen 556, and Photo A64-66).
  • Records for all items are available via the manuscripts catalogue; go to the collection level record for a complete overview of holdings (click on the various listed call numbers to see details of the separate accessions and then click 'List Collection Content' link to bring up lists of items held).
  • Papers of W.S. Bruce are held by Edinburgh University Library Special Collections Division, Gen. 1646-1669. See G.N. Swinney 'Some new perspectives on the life of William Speirs Bruce (1867- 1921), with a preliminary catalogue of the Bruce collection of manuscripts in the University of Edinburgh'  (Archives of Natural History, 28 (3), 2001, pp 285-311) Sp Coll RQ 1965.

 

See also the April 2004 book of the month for an illustrated article on the Scotia Antarctic Expedition.