History in a Tram Ticket

An amazing amount of history can be contained in a single small piece of paper like this tram ticket, the only one of its kind in the Smith collections. The Stirling and Bridge of Allan Tramway Company operated from 1874 – May 1920, and although there was a tram with

Continue reading

Cruive Dykes, James Christie Prowett (1865-1946)

Artist James Christie Prowett (1865-1946) was the only son of James Prowett, a watchmaker and jeweller in Bannockburn. He was educated at Wilson’s Academy and Stirling High School, where he was taught art by Edmund Baker. He served as apprentice to the Stirling architect John Allan, but fine art held

Continue reading

Stirlingshire Collieries

  This rare plate, donated to the Smith collections by colliery workers William McKinlay and Raymond Frew, attempts, to sum up the significance of the Stirlingshire collieries. That the miners and the mining industry were as important to Stirling, as Stirling Castle, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce is undeniable.

Continue reading

The Real Stirling Christmas, The Drummond Tract Depot

This illustration of the birth of Jesus with the shepherds in attendance in the cattle shed is a classic pre-War illustration from The Greatest Story Ever, printed by the Drummond Tract Depot or Stirling Tract Enterprise. The Drummond Family, as seed merchants and agricultural improvers, did much to shape the

Continue reading

Santa the Bruce – Stirling Christmas Cards

With three more posting days to Christmas, take a look at this Stirling card of 2004 which was in MP Anne McGuire’s annual Christmas Card Competition. Christmas cards have changed in the last ten years. The ecard market has grown; messaging on social media platforms is free and popular; schools

Continue reading

St Fillan’s chain, from a healing pool at Killin

The six links of the chain of St. Fillan, Killin, in the Stirling Smith collections are not much to look at, but they can be counted among the treasures of the Smith. They caught the imagination of a group of students at the University of Western Australia who made a

Continue reading
IMAGE CREDIT: ROB MCDOUGALL

World’s Oldest Football Kicks Off Scotland’s Summer of Sport

  Alan Rough encourages visitors to discover country’s sporting memorabilia as World Cup reaches climax   To celebrate Sunday’s epic clash between Argentina and Germany in the FIFA World Cup final, legendary Scotland goalkeeper Alan Rough has been getting to grips with an exact replica of the world’s oldest football.

Continue reading

James Wedlake Bannockburn 700

James gives us an insight into the Smith’s own Bannockburn exhibition on the Art in Scotland TV webchannel.

Continue reading

Art UK: Art Detectives identify Hamilton Macallum painting location.

The Public Catalogue Foundation now known as Art UK has, over the past ten years photographed 210,000 publicly owned oil paintings from 3,000 collections in the UK.  All of which are available to see on the PCF website. The launch of the ‘Art Detective’ programme has opened the doors for

Continue reading

The Pacific Collection – Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum

On Wednesday 19th February, the Stirling Smith was lucky enough to be visited by Eve Haddow, Assistant Curator at National Museums Scotland. Eve has been working on the Pacific Collections Review- a project dedicated to increasing information on and exploring the relationships between collections based on the Pacific islands in

Continue reading