Honest Error
In 2017, Gillean McDougall established the Honest Error project as part of her studies on the MLitt at the University of Glasgow. The editing and publishing module required some kind of project to be set up, so she investigated the University’s Mackintosh collection held at the Hunterian. The work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald is familiar to their many fans – but investigation of the stories behind the artists and the production of their work revealed less well-known aspects of their lives. Group workshops at the Kelvin Hall’s archive brought writers very close to the works themselves and inspired an anthology of poetry, Honest Error, published in the same year.
cover design by Elisabeth Viguie-Culshaw
Writing the Asylum
The archive of Gartnavel Royal Asylum is held at Glasgow’s Mitchell Library and includes items pre-dating the 1843 building up to the 1970s and 80s when it was gradually taken out of NHS use as a treatment centre. In 2017 funding from Wellcome allowed some of the archive (up to 1914) to be digitised, and it can be viewed online here (https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pk2ufbnt).
In 2022, Gillean McDougall won an Early Career Research Award from the University of Glasgow Medical Humanities/Wellcome to establish a group of writers and artists who would explore the archive and create new work reflecting on mental health as well as the geographies and spaces of Gartnavel.
The project website is at www.writingtheasylum.co.uk
cover image by Sarah Phelan
the prescription
The Heritage team of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow invited Gillean McDougall to talk about Writing the Asylum at an event in June 2022, then suggested she set up a creative project around the College archive. For the prescription, 16 writers from creative and healthcare backgrounds took part in a year-long programme of workshops in the archive. Items themed around ‘Bones’, ‘Breath’, ‘Delinquents’ and ‘Death’ were introduced along with sometimes challenging histories, and guest presenters joined some sessions. An anthology of writing produced during the project was launched at an event at the College in October 2023.
More information here: https://heritageblog.rcpsg.ac.uk/2023/02/15/the-prescription-writing-group/
cover design by Craig Gallacher, RCPSG
Honest Error
cover design by Elisabeth Viguie-Culshaw
In 2017, Gillean McDougall established the Honest Error project as part of her studies on the MLitt at the University of Glasgow. The editing and publishing module required some kind of project to be set up, so she investigated the University’s Mackintosh collection held at the Hunterian. The work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald is familiar to their many fans – but investigation of the stories behind the artists and the production of their work revealed less well-known aspects of their lives. Group workshops at the Kelvin Hall’s archive brought writers very close to the works themselves and inspired an anthology of poetry, Honest Error, published in the same year.
Writing the Asylum
cover image by Sarah Phelan
The archive of Gartnavel Royal Asylum is held at Glasgow’s Mitchell Library and includes items pre-dating the 1843 building up to the 1970s and 80s when it was gradually taken out of NHS use as a treatment centre. In 2017 funding from Wellcome allowed some of the archive (up to 1914) to be digitised, and it can be viewed online here (https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pk2ufbnt).
In 2022, Gillean McDougall won an Early Career Research Award from the University of Glasgow Medical Humanities/Wellcome to establish a group of writers and artists who would explore the archive and create new work reflecting on mental health as well as the geographies and spaces of Gartnavel.
The project website is at www.writingtheasylum.co.uk
the prescription
cover design by Craig Gallacher, RCPSG
The Heritage team of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow invited Gillean McDougall to talk about Writing the Asylum at an event in June 2022, then suggested she set up a creative project around the College archive. For the prescription, 16 writers from creative and healthcare backgrounds took part in a year-long programme of workshops in the archive. Items themed around ‘Bones’, ‘Breath’, ‘Delinquents’ and ‘Death’ were introduced along with sometimes challenging histories, and guest presenters joined some sessions. An anthology of writing produced during the project was launched at an event at the College in October 2023.
More information here: https://heritageblog.rcpsg.ac.uk/2023/02/
15/the-prescription-writing-group/