Wikipedia:GLAM/MGS/Mary Barbour Editathon

About the event
The campaign to build a statue to commemorate Mary Barbour in Govan has rightly received considerable attention and public support. It is also a campaign that has generated a wider discussion about the representation of existing statuary in Glasgow and the function of public art. Anyone unaware of why there is a campaign to build a statue to Barbour would probably turn to what Paul Mason has described as the best known example of the potential of anti-capitalist information technology - Wikipedia. In doing so however, they might well wonder why someone with such a poor entry is worthy of a public statue.

The Mary Barbour story is a remarkable one. In 1915, before women were enfranchised, she helped coordinate a rent-strike in Glasgow that, at its height, threatened the production of wartime munitions on the Clyde, and forced the British Government to pass a law that prevented landlords from increasing rents. For this achievement alone, Mary Barbour deserves a better article than she currently has on Wikipedia. But that isn't the end of the Barbour story. In the 1920's, and by now a local councillor, Barbour was instrumental in the setting up of the city's first birth-control clinic. The battle to give women the right to control their own bodies was, and still is, a battle against ideological religious intolerance and prejudice. Mary Barbour successfully overcame those forces of reaction, and for this too she deserves a better Wikipedia article than she currently has.

There are no specific entry requirements although participants will require some basic digital literacies. Full training in how to use Wikipedia will be given. Participants can work either as individual editors or chose to collate information as part of a larger team. Participants can choose to work on the main subject or choose to work on a personal project.

Goals of the event:
 * 1) To improve the Wikipedia article on Mary Barbour
 * 2) To improve associated articles
 * 3) To improve the Socialism Project on Wikipedia, particularly with reference to Scotland
 * 4) To provide participants with the foundations to become confident editors of Wikipedia


 * How do I prepare?
 * Sign up for the event
 * Create a Wikipedia account Please do this in advance - Wiki will block the IP address for suspected vandalism if more than 6 accounts are created from the same IP within 24 hours.
 * Bring a laptop (wi-fi will be provided)
 * Learn about editing if you like: Tutorial, or Getting started on Wikipedia for more information
 * Think about what you would like to edit about. Take a look at the hit list of articles below, or add your own!  Please bring some materials with you on the day

Some reading
We will have books and other texts available on the day. You don't have to read all of the titles below to take part!

Non-Fiction

 * Brown, G. (1988) Maxton, Collins/Fontana, Glasgow
 * Brown, J. (1973) John MacLean, MacDonald Publishing, Loanhead, pp.56-65
 * Burness, C. 'Remember Mary Barbour' in Scottish Labour History, Vol.50 (2015), The Journal of the Scottish Labour History Society, pp.81-96
 * Castells, M. (1983) ‘The Industrial City and the Working Class’, Pt.1, Ch.4 in The City and The Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements, Edward Arnold, London
 * Clark, H. and Carnegie, E. (2004) She Was Aye Workin': Memories of Tenement Women in Edinburgh and Glasgow, White Cockade in association with The People's Story, City of Edinburgh Council and People's Palace, Glasgow City Council, Oxford
 * Craig, M. (2011) When the Clyde Ran Red, Mainstream, Edinburgh
 * Ewan, E., Innes, S., Reynolds, S. (eds.) (2007) The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From the earliest times to 2004, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh
 * Faley, J. (2004) Up Oor Close: Memories of Domestic Life in Glasgow Tenements, 1910-1945, White Cockade in association with Springburn Museum Trust, Oxford
 * McShane, H. and Smith, J. (1978) Harry McShane: No Mean Fighter, Pluto Press, London, pp.33-35
 * Melling, J. (1983) Rent Strike: Peoples’ Struggle for Housing in West Scotland 1890-1916, Polygon Books, Edinburgh
 * Milton, N. (2002), John MacLean, Tramp Trust Unlimited, The John Maclean Society, Pluto Press, Clydeside
 * Oliver, N. (2005), Not Forgotten, Hodder & Stoughton, London, Chapter 29 - ‘Mrs Barbour’s Army’ Pages 143-147

Fiction & Drama

 * Hannan C. Elizabeth Gordon Quinn in Scot-Free: New Scottish Plays, Nick Hern Books, London
 * Simons, J David The Liberation of Celia Kahn, Five Leaves (2011), Saraband (2014)
 * Taudevin, A.J. (2015) Mrs Barbour's Daughters, Oberon Books, London

The Women's Peace Crusade

 * Smyth, J.J. 'Rents, Peace, Votes: Working-Class Women and Political Activity in the First World War' in Breitenbach, E. and Gordon, E. (Eds.) (1992) Out of Bounds: Women in Scottish Society 1800-1945, Edinburgh Education & Society Series, Edinburgh
 * Duncan, R. (2015) Objectors & Resistance: Opposition to Conscription and War in Scotland 1914-18, Common Print

Birth Control

 * Barbour, M. (1935) Glasgow Women's Welfare and Advisory Clinic: Annual Report 1934-35
 * Glasgow Women's Welfare and Advisory Clinic: Annual Report 1941-42
 * Glasgow Women's Welfare and Advisory Clinic: Annual Report 1956-57
 * Brown, M.K. Diary of the Glasgow Women's Welfare and Advisory Clinic, unpublished, Mitchell Library, GC 613.9430941443
 * Elliott, K. 'Birth Control Clinics in Scotland 1926-c.1939', in Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, Volume 34, Number 2, (2014), Economic & Social History Society of Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, pp.199-217
 * Schwartz, L. (2013) 'Freethought and Free Love: Marriage, birth control and sexual morality', Ch.6, Infidel Feminism: Secularism, Religion and Women's Emancipation, England 1830-1914, Manchester, University Press, Manchester, pp.1178-216

Plaques & Rooms
Pearce Institute - http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/education/rebelroad/plaques/

Scottish Parliament - http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14125331.Humza_Yousaf__Make_an_exception_on_naming_rules_for_Mary_Barbour/?ref=mr&lp=9

The Clutha Mural

 * http://www.scotsman.com/news/clutha-bar-mural-nearing-completion-1-3785058
 * http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/tributes-and-time-for-reflection-as-clutha-pub-reopens-1.891624

The Kilbarchan Cairn & Essay Prize

 * http://www.paisley.org.uk/2015/11/pioneering-social-activist-mary-barbour-honoured-in-her-home-village/
 * http://www.the-gazette.co.uk/news/14044130.Kilbarchan_to_unveil_Mary_Barbour_cairn/
 * Renfrewshire Council paperwork

The Mary Barbour Statue

 * Mary Barbour Commemoration, Official Report, Scottish Parliament, (23 May 2013), http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=8571&mode=html#iob_77599
 * http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14110779.Anger_as_Creative_Scotland_snubs_statue_to_feminist_icon_Mary_Barbour/

Gala Concert

 * http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14169061.Glasgow_to_host_major_gala_concert_to_celebrate_the_life_of_social_reformer_Mary_Barbour/


 * Scotland's Housing crisis, Shelter Scotland
 * International Women's Day celebrates the life of Mary Barbour

Programme
This programme is provisional and will likely change as the event develops!
 * 10:30 - 10:45: Introductions
 * 10:45 - 12:45: Wikipedia training
 * 12:45 - 13:30: Lunch / Break
 * 13:30 - 16:30: EDIT!

Attendees

 * Sara Thomas
 * Graeme Arnott
 * Heather Doherty
 * Gill Hamilton
 * Donna Nicholson Arnott
 * Lee Bunce
 * Sean Mackay
 * + 5 from Eventbrite

Trainers
Below is the list of trainers/experienced Wikimedians that will be present on the day:


 * 1) Sara Thomas, Wikimedian in Residence at Museums Galleries Scotland

Hit list
Please feel free to add your own!

Articles for improvement:
 * Mary Barbour
 * Glasgow rent strikes 1915
 * Red Clydeside
 * Birth control
 * Rent control in Scotland
 * Helen Crawfurd

Articles for creation:
 * Housing Letting and Rating Act 1911
 * Scottish Federation of Tenants' Associations
 * Mary Laird
 * Rents and Mortgage Interest Restriction Act 1915
 * Agnes Dollan