Inventory Acc. 13417 Papers of James Halliday, Author, Historian and SNP

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Acc. 13417 July 2013

Inventory

Acc. 13417

Papers of James Halliday, author, historian and SNP politician

National Library of Scotland Manuscripts Division George IV Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1EW Tel: 0131-466 2812 Fax: 0131-466 2811 E-mail: [email protected]

GB 233 Acc. 13417 Papers of James Halliday 1928-2005 Fonds 0.48 (4 bound volumes + 28 files) Halliday, James (1927-2013); author, historian and politician. James Halliday was born in Wemyss Bay on 27 February 1927. He was educated at Skelmorlie Primary School and Greenock Academy. Halliday had been a nationalist from early days and joined the SNP in 1943 as soon as he was eligible. He attended Glasgow University in 1944. However, tuberculosis of the spine forced him to take a two-year gap. He resumed his university education in 1947 and became very active in the Glasgow University Nationalist Association. Halliday graduated in 1952 with an honours degree in history and went on to teach at Ardeer, Coatbridge, Uddingston and Dunfermline High Schools. From Dunfermline he moved to Dundee College of Education as a lecturer in history in 1967, where he became principal lecturer in 1979 and head of department until his retirement in 1988. He specialised in modern history and had a particular interest in the history, politics and constitution of the United States and of Scotland. He authored several books. Halliday played a pivotal role in stabilising the SNP in the 1950s. He replaced Dr Robert D. McIntyre as chairman of the party in 1956, thus becoming the youngest chairman at the age of 28. However, this promotion was not devoid of problems as internal divisions had to be overcome. By the 1959 election the prospects of the party had started to improve. There were five candidates contesting seats, including Halliday himself who stood once more for Stirling burghs. That same year he handed over the direction of the party to Arthur Donaldson. Halliday contested West Fife in the 1970 election and was in charge of the SNP election committee, responsible for interviewing, training and selecting candidates, throughout the growth years of the 1970s. Furthermore, he also became director and chairman of the Scots Independent . The archive reflects Halliday’s long and wide-ranging political career. Of particular significance are the two minute books (1928-1934) of the National Party of Scotland before its merger with the Scottish Party in 1934 to form the modern SNP. In addition, the miscellaneous correspondence and papers (1956-2005) provide an insight into Halliday’s role in securing the survival and flourishing of the SNP during the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. The papers arrived in no particular order; therefore the following arrangement system has been imposed: 1-2 NATIONAL PARTY OF SCOTLAND MINUTE BOOKS 3-4 SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY MINUTE BOOKS 5-32 MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS Some duplicates have been weeded and returned to the donor. Access to file 12 is restricted for Data Protection reasons. Biographical history is based on an obituary by Wilson, Gordon, ‘Jimmy Halliday: author, historian and politician’, The Scotsman, 5 January 2013. Presented, 2013, through the good offices of Dr Owen Dudley Edwards.

1-2 NATIONAL PARTY OF SCOTLAND MINUTE BOOKS 1. Minute book, March 1928-May 1933, of National Council meetings. Includes minutes of the inaugural meeting of the NPS, 24 March 1928, with a record of attendance at meetings of National Council. 2. Minute book, 28 July 1932-29 March 1934, of Executive Committee meetings.

3-4 SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY MINUTE BOOKS 3. Minute book, January 1956-December 1963, of National Council and Executive Committee meetings. 4. Minute book, January 1964-January 1968, of National Council and Executive Committee meetings.

5-32 MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS 5. News cuttings, 1932-1984 and undated. 6. Correspondence, 1938-1941, to and of Arthur Donaldson concerning anti- conscription and nationalism, with some related papers. 7. Memoranda and papers, 1949-2002, concerning broadcasting. 8. SNP annual conference programmes, 1952-1958. 9. SNP financial papers, 1954-1955. 10. Newsletters and information bulletins, 1954-1955, of various nationalist organisations, including ’55 Group’, ‘The Northern League’, ‘New Nation’ and ‘The Nationalist’. 11. SNP papers, 1958-1959 and undated, including a list of proposed amendments to constitution and rules, draft of 1959 manifesto and various committees reports. 12. SNP National Conference agendas and resolutions, 1966-1981, including contact details of committee members [access restricted for Data Protection reasons]. 13. Reports and papers, 1968-1986, concerning various SNP policy matters with some minutes of National Council and National Executive Council. 14. Party political broadcasts, May-September 1972, presented by Jimmy Halliday on behalf of the SNP, Scottish Television Ltd. 15. Correspondence, 1974-1977, concerning selection of SNP candidates. 16. Correspondence, 1975-2008 and undated, of and to Jimmy Halliday concerning political matters. 17. Correspondence and memoranda, 1977, concerning relationships between the SNP parliamentary group and the party. 18. Papers, December 1977-June 1978 and undated, concerning celebrations of 50th anniversary of the NPS. 19. Correspondence, 1978, with the National Library of Scotland concerning deposit of the SNP records. 20. Constitution and rules of the SNP, June 1978. 21. Memorandum, 12 May 1979, of Billy Wolffe analysing SNP results at UK General Election. 22. Papers, 1979-1980, of the SNP Grampian Regional Association concerning internal matters and relationships with the SNP. 23. Correspondence and papers, August 1980, concerning a press conference on nuclear waste held at SNP HQ on 11 August 1980. 24. Two articles, c. 1980, on Scottish nationalism by Richard Finlay and David McCrone. 25. Papers, 1981-1983, concerning organised political groups within the SNP. Includes a letter, 10 November 1981, of Donald Stewart MP giving his views about this matter. 26. Manuscript notes, c. 1982, of Jimmy Halliday concerning National Executive Council matters. 27. Newsletters and news cuttings, 1982-1983, concerning the ’79 Group’. 28. SNP research bulletins, 1983. 29. Correspondence and papers, 1984, relating to the Scottish Self-Government College. 30. Papers, 2004-2005, concerning the ‘Scots Independent’. 31. Election committee papers, undated, concerning information for candidates to elections. 32. Typescript notes, undated, concerning oil publicity with manuscript annotations in the hand of Jimmy Halliday.