The Scottish History Society, also referred to as the Scottish Historical Society, was founded in 1886, as part of the late 19th-century revival in interest in Scottish national identity

Scottish national identity

Scottish national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity and common culture of Scottish people and is shared by a considerable majority of the people of Scotland....

. The Society was founded as a result of a letter from the Earl of Rosebery

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery

Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...

 (later to serve as Prime Minister, from 1894–95), published in The Scotsman

The Scotsman

The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....

on 3 February 1886, and Rosebery became the first President of the Society.

The first president of the Society defined its work as "the humble and unobtrusive task of letting everyman know, in so far as in us lies, and so far as documentary evidence exists, how our forebears lived and worked and carried on the business of their country in their separate spheres."

The Society is based at the University of St Andrews

University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

History of the society

The Scottish History Society was founded with the object of discovery and publication, under selected editorship, of unpublished documents illustrative of the civil, religious, and social history of Scotland.

The first publications, in October 1887, were Bishop Pococke's Tours in Scotland, 1747-1760, edited by D W Kemp, and the Diary of and General Expenditure Book of William Cunningham of Craigends, 1673–1680, edited by the Reverend James Dodds, D.D.

The number of members of the society was originally limited to 400, and its Rules provided for a minimum of two volumes of about 320 pages each per annum. Editors receive 20 copies of each volume they edit for the society, and the owners of manuscripts published by the society are also presented with a certain number of copies.

By 1900, 65 Public Libraries subscribed for the society's publications. Amongst some of its notable members have been Sir James Balfour Paul

James Balfour Paul

Sir James Balfour Paul, KCVO was the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the officer responsible for heraldry in Scotland, from 1890 until the end of 1926....

, Lord Lyon King of Arms

Lord Lyon King of Arms

The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the oldest...

, and Emeritus Professor David Masson

David Masson

David Masson , was a Scottish writer.He was born in Aberdeen, and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen. Intending to enter the Church, he proceeded to Edinburgh University, where he studied theology under Dr Thomas Chalmers, with whom he remained...

, Historiographer Royal

Historiographer Royal

The Historiographer Royal is a member of the Royal household in Scotland. The office was created in 1681, and was in abeyance from 1709 until 1763 when it was revived for Principal William Robertson of Edinburgh University. The post, which now has no formal responsibilities or salary, is held by...

 for Scotland.

Since its foundation the SHS has produced an increasing number of vital records hitherto unavailable to scholars of Scottish history, and in this the SHS have provided an invaluable service to the nation.

President of the society

In 1900, the President was the Earl of Rosebery

Earl of Rosebery

Earl of Rosebery is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1703 for Archibald Primrose, 1st Viscount of Rosebery, with remainder to his issue male and female successively...

. In 1970, the President was Professor Gordon Donaldson

Gordon Donaldson

Gordon Donaldson CBE, FRHistS, FBA was a Scottish historian.Born in Edinburgh of Shetlander descent, Donaldson attended the Royal High School of Edinburgh, before being awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Edinburgh. He also supplemented his income by undertaking some tutoring...

. Other Presidents have included the novelist and politician John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation....

 and Dr Jenny Wormald

Jenny Wormald

Jenny Wormald FRHist S, FSA Scot, FRSA, is a Scottish historian who studies late medieval and early modern Scotland. She taught at the University of Glasgow between 1966 and 1985, and then St Hilda's College, University of Oxford, between 1985 and 2005. She held a variety of other posts in this time...

.