The Adam Smith Bicentenary Committee was formed in late 1961 and was concerned with commemorating the bicentenary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations, (1776). The committee mostly dealt with matters concerning the publication of a set of definitive annotated books on and about Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations. From 1961 to 1964 they were also concerned with the purchase of the Lothians Manuscript (student notebooks of Adam Smith's lectures in Rhetoric and Jurisprudence) for the University of Glasgow.
Once the publication of the annotated notebooks were underway, it was decided to also have an international conference to commemorate the bicentennial of The Wealth of Nations. The committee material in this collection deals mainly with the establishment and activities of the conference.
Also included here are materials from the Kirkcaldy Symposium in June 1973, where Andrew Skinner (who deposited this collection) delivered a lecture on Adam Smith. Skinner (1935-2011) was a graduate of the University (MA 1958, BLitt 1960)) who became a lecturer in the Department of Economics in 1964. He was Daniel Jack Professor of Political Economy from 1985 to 1994 and Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy from 1994 until 2000. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences from 1980 to 1983, Clerk of Senate from 1983 to 1990 and Vice-Principal from 1991 until 1996. His publications include many papers and books on the life and works of the political economist Adam Smith.
From the guide to the Records of the Adam Smith Bicentenary, Committee, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1961-c.1973, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
