About our staff

I graduated with an Honours degree in History from the University of Strathclyde in 2001 and was formally awarded my PhD from the University of Dundee in 2007.

I joined the Scottish Oral History Centre at the University of Strathclyde as a Research Fellow in 2006, where I worked with Arthur McIvor (Director) and others to transform the Centre from a small, internal body to a recognised centre for research and teaching in oral history.

Between 2006 and 2009, I worked as a researcher on a number of projects exploring aspects of twentieth century Scottish history: the history of occupational health (at University of Strathclyde), an oral history of industrial chaplains (Glasgow Caledonian University), and on the policing of youth in post-war Britain (with Louise A. Jackson, University of Edinburgh). I also undertook advisory roles in Heritage Lottery Funded and community-based oral history projects.

In 2010, I was appointed as a Lecturer in History at the University of Strathclyde where I taught modern Scottish and British history, and developed new classes on youth in post-war Britain and on the theory and practice of oral history.

In 2010-11, I also took on the role of Acting Director of the Scottish Oral History Centre and, with Arthur McIvor, helped to design a purpose-built Lab and Archive for the Centre (opened 2012).

I joined the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh in 2014 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2017.

• Executive Committee Member, Scottish Oral History Group.     
• Research Associate, Scottish Oral History Centre, University of Strathclyde.

Summary of research interests

• Britain & Ireland
• Scotland

• Culture
• Gender
• Religion
• Society

• Twentieth Century & After

My main research interests focus on cultural and social change in modern (post-1940) Scotland, with specific interests in role of the arts in society, cultural policy, and arts festivals. These were explored in my book, The Edinburgh Festivals: Culture and Society in Post-war Britain, which examines changing discourses of ‘culture’ by using the arts as a lens and the Edinburgh Festivals as a stage to examine broader cultural and social change between c.1947 and 1971.

Out of this research, I’ve developed interests in the cultural politics of the popular arts, the uses of culture for urban regeneration in the late twentieth century, and in the arts and avant-garde of the 1960s. The latter was explored in The International Writers’ Conference Revisited: Edinburgh, 1962 (co-edited with Eleanor Bell, University of Strathclyde) and in my recent research on the influential avant-garde poet, playwright and jazz musician, Tom McGrath. More recently, I’ve been exploring the history of another type of event in twentieth century Britain: the historical pageant. These major theatrical re-enactments of events from the past experienced waves of popularity in British society, and were so widespread in the Edwardian period that contemporaries referred to an outbreak of ‘pageant-fever’!

I also have continuing interests in the history of youth gangs, violence, media representations of young people, and official responses to delinquency. These interests were sparked whilst exploring the moral panic over youth gangs in 1960s Glasgow, which was the focus of my undergraduate dissertation, and extended during my time as a researcher on Louise A. Jackson’s ‘Policing Youth’ project. Since then, I have worked with sociologists Susan Batchelor and Alistair Fraser (University of Glasgow) to explore the youth gang phenomenon in Glasgow through oral history interviews and a contemporary sociological study undertaken between 1968 and 1970.

Dr Bartie being interviewed about the 1962 International Writers’ Conference for BBC Radio 4 Today, August 2012. Left to right: Unknown (Sound), Jim Haynes (1962 conference organiser), Will Gompertz (presenter), John Calder (1962 conference organiser), Eleanor Bell (co-editor).

I am active across my research interests. Following on from my work on the Edinburgh festivals, I’m exploring two major Scottish arts festivals, Clyde Fair International (1972-73) and the Glasgow Mayfests (1983-97) in terms of urban regeneration through culture, the cultural politics of the popular arts, and the growing importance of cultural policy at city, regional and national levels. I am also at the early stages of researching and writing a biography of the avant-garde ‘explorer’, Tom McGrath. My work on the youth gang phenomenon in 1960s and 1970s Glasgow continues too, in collaboration with Alistair Fraser, University of Glasgow. With colleagues, I am also in the process of writing up publications arising from the major Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project ‘The Redress of the Past: Historical Pageants in Britain, 1905-2016’. This collaborative project with researchers at King’s College London, the Institute of Education and the University of Glasgow examines the phenomenon of historical pageantry in twentieth and early twenty-first century Britain. 

‘The Redress of the Past: Historical Pageants in Britain, 1905-2016’ (AHRC-funded) www.historicalpageants.ac.uk

The Swinging Sixties? Exploring Culture and Society in Post-war Britain, c. 1956-1974 

Contributions to pre-Honours courses: The Historian's Toolkit, The History of Edinburgh, Themes in Scottish History since 1560

Historical Research: Skills and Sources (Online) - Oral History Pathway

Themes in Scottish Historiography (C20th seminars)

Helen Lowe, The development of technical and vocational education in Scottish secondary schooling (c.1976-1990) (co-supervise with Prof Ewen Cameron)

Lucy Brown, The Community Arts Movement in Scotland, 1962-1990. PhD Awarded 2019.

Aimee McCullough, Working-class Fatherhood and Masculinity in west-central Scotland, c. 1970-1995. PhD Awarded 2017.

Kate Wilson, Towers and schemes in revolt: community writing and cultural activism in Glasgow, 1968 -1995 (co-supervised with Dr Eleanor Bell, University of Strathclyde). Completed 2022.

Happy to discuss research proposals in various aspects of modern social and cultural history, including the arts and culture in modern Scotland and youth and youth culture in modern Britain.