Perusing popular lyrics of bygone decades suggests that, unlike the carols with which we are more familiar today, many traditional carols eschewed wintery scenes and snow for verdant abundance and tropical colour. The…
Although we now recognise good ole’ St Nick as the jolly rotund fellow in red, who brings gifts to nice children on the 25th of December, it was the 6th of December which was traditionally celebrated as the Feast of St…
Here’s a wee verse from a book of children’s rhymes by Hamish Hendry, from 1897, with illustrations by Alice. B. Woodward. “We made a man all by ourselves; we made him jolly fat; We stuck a pipe into his face and on…
Exploring the rare books brought to light through a simple search for “carols” brought up a few oddballs, and this is one of them. This earnest – and lengthy – battle-cry of a hymn is tucked into the Hay Flemming…
Today’s choice is taken from the charmingly titled “The poets’ Christmas: a collection of carols, poems, and plays for Christmastide. With a plea for a village drama”, by W. T. Stead (1890). Seemingly on a mission to…
The St Andrews student newspaper “College Echoes” from December 1925 provides what is simply described as a “traditional carol”: “Carol, carol, merrily, Christ is born for us today Christ is come on earth to stay.…
When dark mornings bring the first glimmer of frost, bare branches shudder in the cold wind, and dusk settles in after lunch, it can mean but one thing – time for this year’s University Collections advent calendar! So…
St Andrew’s day (30th November), historically a feast day for Andrew the apostle, officially became a bank holiday in Scotland in 2007. Previous blogs have celebrated Scotland’s patron saint by looking at some of the…
In this blog, Assistant Curator Struan Watson shares some insights into the journey of the Eduardo Paolozzi Archive, from ‘The Krazy Kat’ to our most recent acquisition in 2024. Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was a…
The Christmas vacation and inter-semester break are almost here. To try to help you plan-ahead, our revised opening hours can be found below. These include some additional opening hours during the revision period, as…