Social Enterprise Collection
The Social Enterprise Collection (Scotland) is held by GCU’s Archive Centre. The collection was established when community enterprise pioneer, John Pearce, donated his papers and a large collection of books and grey literature to the Archive Centre in 2011.
In 2018, the Scottish Government funded a project to develop the Social Enterprise Collection, completed as a collaboration between the GCU Archive Centre and the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health. The funding supported essential cataloguing work by the Archive Centre team and Dr Gillian Murray recorded oral histories with Scotland’s social economy pioneers.
The aim of the project is to establish a comprehensive national resource, preserving Scotland’s social enterprise heritage for future generations, and to promote the value of this heritage through teaching and learning within and beyond the university.
Project highlights:
- In 2019 the project team curated a travelling exhibition ‘A history of social enterprise in Scotland’ based on Dr Gillian Murray’s research and showcasing the archive materials.
- A 2nd phase of funding (2020-2021) enabled the project team to develop digital heritage tools:
The Social Enterprise Archiving Toolkit (SEAT)
Learning Resources: The origins of Scotland’s modern social economy
Common Good Comics:
Related to the work to develop the Social Enterprise Collection, Magic Torch Comics, the GCU Archive Centre, and Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to run the Common Good Comics project. The project supports social enterprises and community groups to develop heritage skills and re-tell their stories in comic book form. Find out more HERE.
Related publications: