‘The high state of culture to which this part of the country has attained’: Libraries, Reading, and Society in Paisley, 1760–1830

Abstract

Between 1760 and 1820 Paisley in the west of Scotland was a pioneering industrial community based on the textile industry. Most of the labour force consisted of well-paid, highly skilled handloom weavers who were able to support both reading societies and a subscription library. Associational activity was widespread among both the working and middle classes, and libraries formed part of this movement. Additionally, the town was a major centre of provincial publishing, and the town’s printers were pioneers of provincial serial publication. There were several circulating libraries and a middle-class subscription library, the Paisley Library Society, founded by the town’s civic leaders in 1802. It formed an administrative model which was copied by the Trades Library, founded in 1806, and the church libraries founded soon after. Paisley, fuelled by the Evangelical Revival, was one of the first towns in Scotland to develop church libraries and also libraries aimed primarily at children. Libraries attracted the support of local community activists, who were often involved in more than one type of library. After 1820 activity declined as handloom weaving was replaced by machinery and attention turned to mechanics’ institutes and eventually to a rate-supported solution.