University of South Carolina Conference to Highlight 250th Anniversary of the Birth of Poet Robert Burns

COLUMBIA, SC – March 23, 2009 – The University of South Carolina’s G. Ross Roy Collection of Scottish Literature, the world’s largest such collection outside of Scotland, will be the centerpiece of an international conference commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth of 18th-century Scottish poet Robert Burns, April 2 – 4 in Columbia.

The Roy collection, housed in the university’s Rare Books and Special Collections at Thomas Cooper Library, has nearly 6,000 items of Burnsiana.

“Burns is unique because, more than almost any other literary figure, he attracts both academics and non-academic enthusiasts,” said Dr. Patrick Scott, the library’s director of special collections who, with Roy, will coordinate the conference at the library and other locations in the city.

Three years in the planning, the conference, “Robert Burns at 250: Contemporaries, Contexts & Cultural Forms,” is one of several Burns meetings being held worldwide this year, but it is the only university-based conference on Burns announced in the United States.

Some 80 participants from the United States and several foreign countries will take part in the meeting, which Scott said will focus on Burns, his friends, culture, music and books. A highlight will be a concert Friday, April 3, by Jean Redpath, the legendary Scottish singer of Burns songs. She will perform at 7:30 p.m. in Gambrell Hall auditorium.

Conference sessions are free and open to the public. There is a cost to attend the concert and conference meals, including a dinner Saturday at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel on Assembly Street with the president of the Robert Burns World Federation. Concert tickets are $12.50 each, and tickets to the dinner are $67.50 each. The deadline for ticket purchase is March 23, and information on tickets and conference sessions are available online at the Web site-www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/burns/burnsat250.html  or by calling 803-777-8154.

In addition to papers, panel discussions and the concert, the conference will include an exhibit of Burns’ works; a question-and-answer session with Redpath on Saturday morning; and special Burns programs at the S.C. State Museum Saturday during the museum’s observance of Tartan Day, followed by the dinner that night.

The university got most of its Burns materials from Dr. G. Ross Roy, professor emeritus of English, in 1989 when he retired and arranged for the library to acquire his personal Burns collection.

As with other major library collections, several key components of the Burns collection have been digitized and made available for scholars, students and Burns enthusiasts to view on the university libraries digital collections Web site: http://sc.edu/library/digital/. Recent additions include digital versions of Burns manuscripts and letters, Burns chapbooks and the 1802 version of his “Letters Addressed to Clarinda (to be re-published in paperback by USC Press).

Roy inherited the beginning of the collection from his grandfather, William Omiston Roy, who began amassing Burns materials in the 1890s. Over the years, Roy himself has increased the size of the collection six-fold. He has continued to donate Burns manuscript items to the collection every year since his retirement.

He also established an endowment to ensure the future of the collection and help researchers travel to Columbia so they could use it. Over the past 20 years, Burns scholars from 26 states and 13 foreign countries have come to the university to use the Roy collection.

“I think it’s fair to say that every specialist in Scottish literature knows about the Burns collection at the University of South Carolina, and they’re constantly amazed at the range and importance of what we have here,” Scott said.

In connection with the 250th anniversary observance, an illustrated catalog for the G. Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns has just been published by USC Press. Written by university librarian Elizabeth Sudduth, the catalog is an impressive guide to the collection’s holdings. Among the 6,000 items described in the illustrated catalog are one of only two known first-edition copies of “The Merry Muses of Caledonia”; the only known copy in Burns’ hand of his song, “Leslie Bailie”; and personal artifacts, such as Burns’ porridge bowl and horn spoon.

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Sidebar — Robert Burns lives

Even if Robert Burns’ name doesn’t ring any bells, you’re likely to be familiar with at least some of his legacy.

In 1788, he wrote the song, “Auld Lang Syne,” set to a traditional Scottish folk tune that is still sung at celebrations of New Year’s Eve worldwide.

Closer to home, he wrote the lyrics for the original music that is now the University of South Carolina’s alma mater.

“Burns is a national icon in Scotland,” said Scott, but he also is revered around the world because he spoke to “a wide range of human concerns and discovered the value of poetry that talks to common experience.”

The Robert Burns World Federation has more than 700 affiliate societies, which are, essentially, fan clubs. Frank Shaw of Atlanta created an ongoing Web magazine, “Robert Burns Lives!” for Burns enthusiasts.

“He wrote about love, families, parenthood, death, sex and a broad range of other topics,” Scott said. “But he also appealed to people because he spoke of equality and freedom. And he became a symbol for expatriate Scots. Thirty million people of Scottish descent live in the United States, far more than live in Scotland.”