Written by a volunteer
The Maryhill Museum is currently hosting an exhibition of archival material narrating the 150-years history of the Glasgow Orchestral Society.
The Glasgow Orchestral Society was formed on the 29th of December 1870 as an amateur musical group. They have used Maryhill Burgh Halls as a venue for their weekly rehearsals since October 2011.
The Museum was given of a significant number of artefacts from the Society but we did not have the space to display them all. This article discusses a series of documents that are not on display pertaining to late 19th century newspaper media output.
During the 19th century and beyond, GOS utilized the print media of newspapers for publicizing forthcoming practice sessions and concerts. Various newspapers also printed reviews of the Society’s concerts.
What follows is a selection of invoices from newspapers and the respective advertisements that I collected by researching the British Newspaper Archive database and the Mitchell Library collection.
Forthcoming practice session printed in ‘The Evening Citizen’, September 1889
Below is a receipt dated 9th September 1889 to James Hedderwick & Sons for an advertisement in The Evening Citizen. The payment amount was 10 shillings and 6 pence. The Evening Citizen was the evening edition of The Glasgow Citizen which was first published in August 1864 and was one of the first of three evening newspapers to be printed, published, and sold in the Glasgow. It ceased publication in 1974.
The advert, which is shown below, was printed in the ‘Notices’ section on the front page of the paper on the 10th of September 1889.
Forthcoming practice session printed in ‘The Glasgow Evening News’ , September 1889.
Below is a receipt dated 9th September 1889 for an advertisement in ‘The Glasgow Evening News’. The advert is a notification for the same practice session as discussed above. The payment amount was 10 shillings. The Glasgow Evening News was founded as ‘The Glasgow Evening Post’ in 1866. It was named ‘The Evening News’ from 1915 onwards. The newspaper ceased publishing in January 1957.
The advert, shown below, was published in the ‘Clydeside Echoes’ section on page four of the paper on the 12th of September 1889.
Forthcoming Concert printed in ‘The Evening Times’, April 1890
The receipt shown below is dated 11th of April 1890 and is for payment of 3 shillings and 4 pence to George Outram & Co for an advertisement in ‘The Evening Times’. George Outram and Co was the publisher and printer of ‘The Evening Times’, ‘The Glasgow Herald’, ‘The Bulletin’, and a number of weekly periodicals up until 1903 when it was incorporated as a limited liability company George Outram & Co Ltd which existed up until 2002. ‘The Evening Times’ and ‘The Glasgow Herald’ (now just ‘The Herald’) are still being published today by Newsquest Media Group Ltd. The Herald is the longest running national newspaper in the world.
The advertisement, shown below, appeared on the front page of the paper on Saturday the 12th of April 1890 in the ‘Entertainments’ section.
Forthcoming Concert and Review printed in ‘The Glasgow Evening News’, December 1893
Below is a letter dated 18th of December 1893 from the publishers of ‘The Glasgow Evening News’ in response to a letter from the Glasgow Amateur Orchestral Society informing the publishers of a forthcoming concert. The letter states where notification of the concert will be published and it also states that the newspaper will send a reporter to the concert.
Notification of the forthcoming concert, shown below, was indeed published in The Glasgow Evening News on the 18th of December 1893 in the ‘Local Musical Notes’ section on page 2.
A review of the concert, shown below, was published in page two of ‘The Glasgow Evening News’ on the 22nd of December 1893.
To see some of the documents of the invoice, or to learn more about the Glasgow Orchestral Society in the late Victorian age, visit us Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm.
Tickets are free but booking is essential. Contact us at info@mbht.org.uk or 0141 948 0700.