Tucked inside a medical college library on St Vincent Street sits one of the most celebrated books in the world. This month, Glaswegians are being invited to pull up a chair beside it and talk.
Beyond Audubon: Exploring the colonial world of The Birds of America is a free roundtable workshop at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, run as part of Black History Month 2026. The series opens on Saturday 3 October, and the workshop runs again on Saturday 24 October, from 1pm to 3.30pm.
A book that takes two people to turn a page
John James Audubon (1785–1851) published The Birds of America between 1827 and 1838. According to the College, it contains 435 hand-coloured plates showing birds at life size, which is why it was printed on enormous "double elephant folio" sheets.
The BBC reports that it takes at least two people to turn a single page without damaging it.
The College bought the first two volumes of the first edition, covering the first 200 plates, in 1838 for £48. The College says that sum would then have paid a skilled labourer's wages for a year.
Why would a medical college buy a book about birds? Claire McDade, the College's Heritage Lead, explained in a College news release in April that medicine, science and the study of nature were closely linked in Enlightenment Glasgow.
"It was not unusual for books on birds, adorned with intricate drawings of specimens, to appear in medical and scientific libraries during this time," she said.
What a colonial lens means
The workshop asks visitors to look past the beautiful plates to the world that produced them.
Audubon was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, to a plantation-owning father. The College's event listing says he bought and sold enslaved people, benefited from their unacknowledged work on his expeditions, and drew on the local knowledge of indigenous Native American peoples.
Looking at the book through a colonial lens means asking whose labour and knowledge made it possible, and whose names were left out.
Co-host Tasmin Evans, a researcher of colonialism, empire, slavery and their legacies, sets out the idea on the College's heritage blog. "What happens if we try to reconnect Audubon with the world surrounding his famed The Birds of America?" she writes.
She adds that "knowledge and meaning can be generated through conversations and collective reasoning", rather than one person presenting research to an audience of listeners.
That is the spirit of the afternoon. The College describes it as a structured conversation, using historic sources and prompts to encourage participants to share their thoughts and feelings. It includes a look at the College's own copy in its new exhibition.
Ms McDade, who co-hosts, said in the April release: "The College acknowledges the harm caused by racism and Audubon's place within that history and aims to present this work with openness and transparency while recognising its scientific and artistic significance."
Need to know
- What: Beyond Audubon: Exploring the colonial world of The Birds of America
- When: Saturday 3 October and Saturday 24 October 2026, 1pm to 3.30pm
- Where: Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 232-242 St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5RJ
- Cost: Free, but booking is required and places are subject to availability
- Age: 16 and over, according to the Eventbrite listing
- Booking: Via Eventbrite, with links for both dates on the Black History Month Scotland website at blackhistorymonthscotland.org
- Enquiries: library@rcpsg.ac.uk
The College says its building is accessible from street level by stairs or a lift.
If you cannot make a Saturday, the Audubon exhibition is free to visit in the College Library on Monday afternoons from 2pm to 5pm, except bank holidays. The College advises contacting the library in advance.
