{"id":294,"date":"2021-04-14T11:00:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T10:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/?p=294"},"modified":"2021-04-27T12:03:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T11:03:17","slug":"queering-the-archive-drag-in-the-school-of-scottish-studies-archives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/queering-the-archive-drag-in-the-school-of-scottish-studies-archives\/","title":{"rendered":"Queering the Archive: Drag in the School of Scottish Studies Archives"},"content":{"rendered":"

For our second blog and part two to the last blog Queering the Archive<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0j<\/span>oin us as we celebrate\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>cultural records of \u2018drag\u2019 in the archives.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Drag is described as a gender performance artform for entertainment.\u00a0<\/span>The term itself developed in British theatre circles in the 19<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0century but drag has been around as a theatrical and performance artform since ancient history.<\/span>\u00a0Drag as performance in Britain is often cited back to being historically\u00a0<\/span>popularised<\/span>\u00a0in theatre and the plays of Shakespeare and his\u00a0<\/span>contemporaries<\/span>. As was the same with performance in ancient\u00a0<\/span>Greek<\/span>\u00a0plays, male players could take the stage and thus would have to dress as women for their performance. While drag on stage was acceptable, off the stage is another story entirely. Cross-dressing was illegal and clothing was\u00a0<\/span>strictly regulated<\/span>\u00a0to gender, and arrests were made if individuals were not viewed as wearing enough articles of clothing<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>within their perceived gender.\u00a0<\/span>Generally, theatric<\/span>\u00a0circles were one of the only places where drag was accepted in the\u00a0<\/span>general public<\/span>\u00a0sphere. LGBT+ identities were kept underground due to\u00a0<\/span>criminalisation<\/span>\u00a0and societal attitudes. Drag was kept in the sphere of performance, literature,\u00a0<\/span>bawdy<\/span>\u00a0tales,\u00a0<\/span>ballads<\/span>\u00a0and broadsheets with a few popular and break-out drag\u00a0<\/span>and impersonation\u00a0<\/span>performers. Drag itself has thrived in queer circles throughout history and has been an important aspect of queer art, performance, and transgression and identity.\u00a0<\/span>The first\u00a0<\/span>person to\u00a0<\/span>self\u00a0<\/span>identify<\/span>\u00a0as the \u2018queen of drag\u2019\u00a0<\/span>was William Dorsey Swann<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>In the\u00a0<\/span>UK<\/span>, the first drag queen is credited as Princess Seraphina and\u00a0<\/span>was a<\/span>\u00a0staple of \u201cMolly Houses.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>In\u00a0<\/span>British\u00a0<\/span>stage\u00a0<\/span>circles, male impersonation was popular<\/span>\u00a0in the Music Hall scene<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>elsewhere with<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>performers<\/span>\u00a0such as\u00a0<\/span>Vesta Tilley.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Within the School of Scottish Studies Archives, we have examples of ballads, songs, and cultural tradition that describes drag as performance and entertainment.\u00a0<\/span>While the records I have selected are not evidence of queer transgression and identity that comes with drag and gender performance, it is evidence of what exists in the Scottish public sphere of tales and cultural life alongside the previous blog of the ‘Cross-Dressing’ ballads. These oral history accounts describe cultural aspects and accepted fluidity of performance and tradition.\u00a0 A kind of <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2018d<\/span>rag<\/span>\u2019<\/span> performance was <\/span>relatively popular<\/span> in some Scottish cultural traditions. Through Christmas and New Year\u2019s guising and <\/span>galoshins<\/span>\u00a0customs, both children and adults would often dress in a form of drag for fun and fancy-dress. Guising involved groups of people going from door to door or taking part in singing, playing music,\u00a0<\/span>dancing<\/span>\u00a0and festivities. Hugh Jamieson<\/span>, recorded in Gott, Shetland,<\/span>\u00a0describes some of the outfits when recorded by Alan J. Bruford.\u00a0<\/span> \u2018The\u00a0<\/span>guisers<\/span>\u00a0dressed in home-made outfits with false faces [masks] bought from the shop. The men dressed as women and the women as men. They would dress in wigs and wide skirts, with\u00a0<\/span>whiskers<\/span> made from sheepskins.\u2019 <\/span>(SA1974.216) <\/span>Jamieson fondly recalls this custom when asked of dressing up and guising and the fun that was had.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wat Ramage<\/span>, recorded at<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Westruther,\u00a0<\/span>describes the songs that were sung and traditions of guising, and how as children<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2018the\u00a0<\/span>laddies<\/span> were made to dress up in women\u2019s clothes, and the lassies would dress in the boy\u2019s clothes.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(SA1977.205)<\/span><\/p>\n

Drag and dressing up as characters and creatures was also common in\u00a0<\/span>galoshin\u2019s<\/span> plays themselves and drag in Scottish cultural tradition and customs can be viewed as a form of shared fun and taking part in festivities and theatrics. Of course, drag was not the term that would be used, but the theatrics of dressing up is remembered fondly and put quite simply by Jamieson and Ramage. Drag is also something that exists in many other culture\u2019s traditions and plays outside of Scotland and can be an example of how drag has been shaped by cultural tradition and forms of theatrics and has always existed in different forms in the accepted public sphere throughout history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, this is just a brief\u00a0example on the history of drag and performance as well as Scottish cultural traditions<\/span>\u00a0and is not a complete history. Drag goes\u00a0<\/span>beyond<\/span> the binary and <\/span>remains<\/span> a transgressive artform that is a key part of queer history and the history of <\/span>performance and tradition.<\/span> This blog is an attempt to illustrate how our records can show fluidity and societal attitudes in Scottish cultural tradition and theatric spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The records selected from our collection can be accessed via Tobar an\u00a0<\/span>Dualchais<\/span>. This includes but is not limited to:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hugh Jameson, \u2018Guising at Old Christmas an<\/span>d\u00a0<\/span>New Year<\/span>\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0Recorded by Alan J. Bruford. (SA1974.216)\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/tobarandualchais.co.uk\/en\/fullrecord\/48475<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Donald John MacDonald, \u2018Duan\u00a0na\u00a0Callaig<\/span>\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0Recorded by John MacInnes. (SA1966.064)\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/tobarandualchais.co.uk\/en\/fullrecord\/57790<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wat Ramage, \u2018Galoshins<\/span>\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0Recorded by Dr. Emily Lyle. (SA1977.205)\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/tobarandualchais.co.uk\/en\/fullrecord\/42571<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This blog is part of the \u2018Queering the Archive\u2019\u00a0<\/span>initiative<\/span>, which involves\u00a0<\/span>intervention<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>workshops as well as blogs of application<\/span>\u00a0of queer theory. See past blogs for further details of \u2018Queering the Archives<\/span>\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0I<\/span>f you are interested in taking part in the workshops, or if you are interested in researching LGBT+ records<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>using our collections for your work,\u00a0<\/span>or working with us,\u00a0<\/span>please contact\u00a0<\/span>eholmes@ed.ac.uk<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Written by Elliot Holmes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elliot is one of the Archives and Library Assistants at the School of Scottish Studies Archives and uses He\/They pronouns. You can also find him on twitter @elliotlholmes\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Follow @EU_SSSA on twitter for updates and sharing our collections.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For our second blog and part two to the last blog Queering the Archive,\u00a0join us as we celebrate\u00a0the\u00a0cultural records of \u2018drag\u2019 in the archives.\u00a0\u00a0 Drag is described as a gender performance artform for entertainment.\u00a0The term itself developed in British theatre … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[18,27,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcNWdE-4K","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions\/295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/sssa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}