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The Poet, Preserved

The Scots Magazine

January 2026

Beth McHugh takes a guided journey through Glasgow's Mitchell Library's Burns Collection

ROBERT BURNS has long been a defining marker of Scottish culture. Born into obscurity and spending most of his life as a ploughman, he is considered the people's poet - and it's the people who own the extensive collection of his work housed in the Mitchell Library.

Walking through the imposing main doors of the beautiful early 20th-century building feels like stepping back in time. Here, an incredible variety of artefacts and ephemera relating to the Bard's life and legacy can be explored, from his handwritten letters to flyers for Burns events around the world.

I made an appointment to see the collection for myself, and special collections librarian Susan Taylor warmly welcomed me into a mesmerising room. The walls were lined with all manner of books, and I was taken aback by the volume of work solely relating to Burns.

"The bulk of the collection is in this room, but some of it has to be in secure storage," Susan explained. "We always say that there's about 10 per cent of the material we actually hold on display in any public area. Everything else is behind the scenes, but it doesn't mean you can't access it. That's the important thing. We just have different ways of doing it."

Susan explained that the main access to the collection would come via the search room - a supervised space where collection items can be brought upon request.

"We're always battling between access and preservation," she said. "We have to preserve these wonderful things for the next generation to come, but they all belong to the people of the city, so we want people to enjoy them."

The variety of content that has been collected and catalogued in the Mitchell Library is delightfully extensive. A large table had been prepared with a few special texts, but bookshelves, drawers and boxes throughout the room contained far more than poetry.

"You have things that you might not expect here," Susan added, leading me through the bookshelves.