Dundee Burns Club Banner to Go on Display in Time for Burns Night
As Scotland prepares to celebrate Burns Night on Saturday 25 January, The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum has put a historic Dundee Burns Club banner on display for the next four weeks.
This important piece of cultural heritage, beautifully crafted from blue and brown silk, shows two hands reaching across inside a wreath and within a scroll lies Burns’ phrase, “For Auld Lang Syne” and the words, “The Dundee Burns Club Instd 1860,”
The banner holds historical significance, as it was featured during the unveiling of the Burns statue which still proudly sits outside The McManus, then known as the Albert Institute. The members of the Dundee Burns Club, formed in 1860, raised money to have this banner made to coincide with the arrival of the statue.
This event took place on October 16, 1880 and a photograph from the time captured the banner proudly displayed amidst the celebrations, linking it to a key moment in Dundee’s history.
The Dundee Burns Club was established twenty years before this in 1860 to promote the appreciation of Burns’ work and the values he championed.
The Burns statue is a duplicate of one by Sir John Steell that had been unveiled in New York’s Central Park just two weeks earlier. Further copies were subsequently installed in London and in Dunedin, New Zealand. The sculptor was paid 1000 guineas (half what New York paid for the original) and the sum was raised by public subscription.
Gareth Jackson-Hunt, Museum Services Manager at The McManus, said,
“When it was donated to the museum in 2012 the condition of the Burns Club banner was in need of conservation work. Silk deteriorates over time and the banner was certainly showing its age. It had been exposed to light and the weight of the metal fringing had pulled and distorted the silk. Thanks to funding from Museums Galleries Scotland, our conservator treated the banner over six months and we are delighted it is now on display again.”
Jimmy Black, President of the Burns Club, said,
"The banner is a precious part of Dundee's history, recalling a time when Burns' democratic sentiments gave people confidence to demand the vote. We're grateful to staff The McManus for their meticulous care of our Burns Club banner.
The McManus is free to visit and opening times along with more information about their latest exhibitions can be found at can be found at www.mcmanus.co.uk.
Photograph showing the Dundee Burns Club banner at the Burns Statue unveiling from Dundee Libraries Collection
