The Clan Leslie: A Celebration of 950 years of Leslies in Scottish History, Literature, and Culture.

This exhibition grew from a partnership with University of Guelph Library staff and  students in the History and Art History Departments at the University of Guelph to provide an experiential learning opportunity. Archival & Special Collections staff and faculty from the Art History Department guided the students in interpreting original primary resource materials from the Clan Leslie and Scottish Studies Collections in Archival & Special Collections and in curating the exhibition. It was originally launched as a physical exhibit in 10 cases in McLaughlin Library at the University of Guelph in August 2016 in honor of the Clan Leslies, the featured clan of the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games in Fergus Ontario. 

The process of creating this exhibition has led us to many fascinating discoveries about the contributions of the Clan Leslie in literature, politics, religion, the domestic arts, and sciences in Scotland and beyond. These  achievements can be viewed in the #? sections of this digital exhibit. 

The University of Guelph is the official repository for the Clan Leslie Collection. We are grateful to the following individuals, who have donated materials to this collection over the years: Margaret Aitken (Acton, Ont) Donald W. Leslie (Abbeville, S. C.), Thomas G. Leslie, KSG (Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, UK), Gary A Leslie (Lexington, KY), Harold and Val Leslie (Didsbury, Alb), Robert Leslie (Acton, Ont), William Leslie, Sandy Eliza McDaniel (Evanston, Il), Diane L. Sadler (Pasadena, MD), James Barrie Leslie, (Gordon, New South Wales,  Aus) and David Leslie White (Ft Worth, TX).

This exhibit was curatated by:  

University of Guelph Library Staff

Janna Avon, Co-op Librarian from the University of British Columbia

Melissa McAfee, Special Collections Librarian

Ashley Shifflett McBrayne, Library Associate

Judy Wanner, Associate Librarian (retired)

University of Guelph Students

Jennifer Oldham, BA student, Psychology

Desiree Scholtz, BA student, History & Art History

Marian Toledo,  PhD student in Scottish History

The library is committed to ensuring that members of our user community with disabilities have equal access to our services and resources and that their dignity and independence is always respected. If you encounter a barrier and/or need an alternate format, please fill out our Library Print and Multimedia Alternate-Format Request Form. Contact us if you’d like to provide feedback: lib.a11y@uoguelph.ca