Recognition for Singers collection
MEMORABILIA from the Clydebank’s Singer factory is set to gain recognition as a collection of national historical significance.
The sewing machine works, which opened in 1885 and closed down in 1980, once employed thousands from Clydebank and the surrounding area and exported sewing machines all over the world.
Culture bosses at West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) believe that some of machines in its collection could be the only ones of their type left.
They have bagged a £55,578 grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to find out exactly how important the collection of Singers artifacts is.
National Museums Scotland has already said it believes the collection — which includes weapons from when the factory made munitions during the Second World War, as well as sewing machines — to be nationally significant.
Gill Graham, head of the culture section at WDC, said: “We recognised the collection was of substantial interest and were looking for any way of investing in and researching the collection.
“National Museums Scotland got involved and that helped us get the funding.
“A science and technical curator will now research the whole collection over a two-year period and we will use that to go for national recognition.
“That will allow us access to additional funding and we can look at some permanent exhibitions.
“We believe some of our machines might be the only ones of their type, we also don’t know how old a lot of the machines are so we need to find that out.
“This collection has national and possibly international significance because the factory was the biggest producer of Singer machines.
“Everybody in Clydebank knew somebody that worked in Singer at some point so it’s important to have this collection.”
Provost Denis Agnew who chairs WDC’s Corporate Cultural Sub-committee is also excited at the Singer project.
He said: “I am delighted that we are now moving forward in recognising how significant the Singer factory is to Clydebank and this area.
“I think it’s important to develop the archive and find out exactly what we have in our possession.
“Myself and the other members of the committee are keen to see if we can get some of the Singer archive displayed. It was in Clydebank before Clydebank was created — almost twenty years before — so it’s very important to our past and industrial heritage.
“It was very important for the people who lived in this area and during the Second World War, when it was a munitions factory, it was involved in very important work.”