We're rolling out an exciting line-up of events throughout 2026 focusing on Scottish and American ties, history, culture and family connections.
These are in a variety of formats - from short talks to multi-week courses - both in-person and online. Speakers and educators include academics from Scottish Universities and expert Scottish genealogists.
From Scotland to Mississippi: The Crofter’s Son.
A journey of discovery, from a DNA surprise to an eminent citizen of the Deep South. This presentation showcases the wide range of sources available online that can help to identify Scots emigrants after they arrived in the USA. This talk will be held online and a recording will be available to participants for two weeks post-event.
Date & Time: 5 November, 18.00-19.15 GMT
Speaker: Alison Spring is a professional genealogist, speaker, and writer specialising in the records of Scotland. With over 40 years’ experience of family history research, she has a Masters Degree in Family & Local History from the University of Dundee and is a member of the Register of Qualified Genealogists. Based near Glasgow, she is passionate about tracing your family tree on a budget and blogs as the “Frugal Family Historian”. She has also taught college and university genealogy courses and written for the UK’s “Family Tree” magazine. She has delivered presentations for events including the Virtual Genealogical Association, RootsTech, and Scottish Indexes, as well as family history societies in the UK and overseas.
Cost: £10.00
From Culloden to Concord: The Jacobite Rising and the American Revolution
Many Jacobite exiles, British army veterans, and political ideas crossed the Atlantic in the aftermath of the 1745 rising. This talk will explore how these individuals and ideas shaped colonial identities and understandings of loyalty and resistance during the American Revolution. This talk will be held online and a recording will be available to participants for two weeks post-event.
Date & Time: 11 November, 18.30 – 20.00 GMT
Speaker: Dr Nicola Martin is a lecturer in history at the University of the Highlands and Islands. She specialises in the eighteenth-century and is particularly interested in both Jacobitism and in North America during the revolutionary era.
Cost: £10.00
The Disputed Scottish Origins of the 1776 Declaration of Independence
By virtue of a Resolution in Congress in 1997, every year on April 6, America celebrates "Tartan Day". This is the anniversary of the signing of a letter in 1320 in Arbroath, Scotland, addressed to the Pope in Avignon, wrongly (and only recently) called the "Declaration of Arbroath". It is widely stated that the Arbroath Letter was the major inspiration of the American Declaration of Independence. This is simply wrong for several reasons which will be explored by Dr Durie in his usual humorous and invigorating fashion! Dr Durie will also consider why the saltire of the Confederate Battle Flag has no relation to the Scottish saltire flag.
This talk will be held online and a recording will be available to participants for two weeks post-event.
Date & Time: 8 December, 18.30-19.45 GMT
Speaker: Dr Bruce Durie founded the Postgraduate Programme in Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies at the University of 海角论坛 back in 2006. He has written over 30 books including Scottish Genealogy, now in its 4th edition and Understanding Documents for Genealogy and Local History. He is Shennachie (Genealogist and Historian) to the Chief of Durie and spent six months during 2016 as Fulbright US-UK Fulbright Senior Scottish Studies Scholar, researching Scottish Migration into Colonial America at St Andrews University, Laurinburg, North Carolina.
Cost: £10.00