Tickets for events organised by the Caledonian Club of New York, designed by John Allan
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 23 engraved tickets for events organised by the Caledonian Club of New York, dated around 1830-1840. The cards were designed by John Allan and engraved by various well-known American engravers.
The majority of the cards are for the Annual Caledonian Ball and incorporate images such as Scottish dancing, bagpiping, references to Scottish history, thistles, tartan, castles and snippets of Scottish verse (almost entirely drawn from the works of Robert burns). In addition to the general tickets are separate tickets specifically for women ("ladies"). These cards tend to feature images of fair Scottish maidens being pursued by handsome "Walter Scottesque" young gentlemen across Highland scenes.
Dates
- Creation: c 1830 - c 1840
Creator
- Allan, John, 1777-1863 (Scottish-American bibliophile) (Designer, Person)
Language of Materials
Scots
Conditions Governing Access
Open. Please contact the repository in advance.
Biographical / Historical
The current Caledonian Club of New York, which is still active today, was founded in 1856 to promote Scottish culture and heritage in New York. These tickets refer to its direct antecedent, the "original" Caledonian Club founded in 1830 by members of the Highland Guard after the war of 1812.
Full Extent
23 cards
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased in May 2025. Accession no. SC-Acc-2026-0025.
Physical Description
Twenty-three cards of various sizes, a little foxed and browned in places; removed from an album with some partial remains of fixings on the blank verses.
Processing Information
Catalogued by Aline Brodin in May 2026, using information provided by the seller.
Subject
Genre / Form
Geographic
Technique
Topical
- Title
- Tickets for events organised by the Caledonian Club of New York, designed by John Allan, c 1830 - c 1840
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository
Centre for Research Collections
University of Edinburgh Main Library
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LJ Scotland
+44(0)131 650 8379
heritagecollections@ed.ac.uk