The People’s Palace has been welcoming Glaswegians for over a century, celebrating Scotland’s history and the day-to-day lives of Glasgow’s working class through the ages.
Built in Glasgow Green in 1898, the museum was designed to provide the inner city masses with leisure and education, many of whom may not find their culture reflected in the prestige and high art of the city's galleries at the time.
The recreation of a single-end tenement, an air raid shelter from World War Two and Ken Currie's famous mural commemorating the 200th anniversary of the bloody Calton Weavers strike are among a raft of popular attractions at the Palace.
Visitors can also learn about the legacy of Red Clydeside, the growth of Scotland's trade union and suffragette history and how people have lived, worked and played in the city over the decades.
Dr Elspeth King, who worked there as a curator between 1974 and 1990, has told how she helped bring the Palace to life in her first exhibition; 800 years of Glasgow.
"We had been sent various artefacts, stones of demolished buildings from the 17th century and such, but this antiquarian collection didn't really reflect how the city had grown and developed over the 18th century and in more modern times. I thought, 'How am I going to do this?'"
Not long after, Dr King faced backlash for one of her first judgement calls; Billy Connolly’s famous banana boots that he wore on stage.
Members of the public argued the comedian’s swear-laden routines were too foul to be celebrated at the museum.
"At the time Billy was becoming quite well known, so we decided to open it with material from him; it was not universally welcomed," she said.
“People were writing letters into the Daily Record saying the People’s Palace were bringing Glasgow into disrepute and asking why this potty-mouthed man was chosen to represent us in a museum? There was a lot of flack I had to take.”
Born into a mining family in Fife, Dr King achieved a first-class degree in mediaeval history from the University of St Andrew's and a postgraduate degree in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester before landing a job at the People's Palace.
The curator would soon learn her work would involve fighting against the tides of tradition – and on a shoestring budget.
She and her colleague Michael Donnelly would scour the Barras markets, a haven for bric-a-brac and old items that would best capture ordinary working life in the city.
They bought a wide range of artefacts from the stalls; a life-sized plaster Elvis bust, which was one of the best-selling items at the markets in the late 1970s, Borzoi dog sculptures from the 1930s and, on one grim excursion, a child’s coffin from a Masonic Lodge dating back to 1870.
“We were known as midden-rakers at the time,” she said. “Our stuff was piling high in storage at Kelvingrove and a room we used at the Templeton Carpet Factory. They were not impressed.
“People were leaving the tenements to new towns and taking their belongings to the selling rooms. The items were so varied, typical of Glasgow life and sold at rock bottom prices. These were things that people would maybe think twice about offering to you, because they don’t know of the intrinsic value of them.
“When we were creating an exhibition dedicated to the city’s weaving trade, we found a spinning wheel in perfect condition just sitting on the pavement at the Briggait. It ended up being a prize exhibit."
She added: "This was all collected in a way which was diametrically opposite to how William Burrell collected his stuff; Rare tapestries and pieces of furniture were collected, not through his own effort, but through his dealers. They did all the buying for him."
The pair scrambled through condemned tenements and buildings cross the Gorbals, Calton and Maryhill with chisel hammers in hand to collect ceramic tiles and stained glass windows from homes about to be demolished.
She recalled saving an impressive tiled butcher’s counter before the shop was to be torn down.
Donnelly built up an impressive stained glass collection through their efforts, which earned the People's Palace Museum of the Year in 1981.
“It was a hugely destructive period, seeing those beautiful tenements being brought down, but it was very exciting for us," she said. "We were very hands-on, running in front of demolition crews to try and salvage what we could.
"It was a revelation to people that Glasgow had such a wonderful art form; so many studios that produced it had gone into other things.
"I think it's gone into storage since I left and no body has seen it since. People have probably forgotten."
Neither did Dr King's decision to use contemporary artists to fill the gaps in the city's modern history go down too well with fine art bosses. Among the new recruits was celebrated artist and author Alasdair Gray.
She employed the budding painter using money from the government's Jobs Creation fund, telling bosses he was there to record collections. Instead, he was commissioned to create a series of portraits of Glasgow characters, from Red Clydesider Jimmy Reid to Govan politician Margo McDonald.
Halfway through the project, Gray told the team he was going to the University of Glasgow to study creative writing.
"I was really cut up. I told him I don't know why he was doing it, that no one makes money as a writer," she said. " I did not know what he could do.
"Years later, Lanark was published and he became the greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott."
She added: "He was fantastic to work with; a happy, creative person with great ideas. He did everything with great enthusiasm."
The People's Palace never tried to shy away from the grittier side of Glasgow’s common past; the role of the ‘demon drink’ in Glasgow society was laid bare in its Temperance Movement exhibition.
There were also earlier efforts to examine how the city benefited from the Transatlantic slave trade with an exhibition on runaway slaves, displaying newspaper adverts from the 18th century offering rewards for the capture of fugitives.
The portrait of John Glassford and family in the Palace, a famous painting of one the city’s most successful tobacco merchants, also features an enslaved black boy, whose face was revealed after the painting was cleaned in 2007.
A silver collar, believed to have been worn by an enslaved person, was also once on display at the museum.
Dr King believes the city is still behind the likes of Liverpool and Bristol in its attempts to face up to its shameful ties with slavery.
She added: "The whole Palace, like many buildings, is built on money made from the sugar and tobacco trades. Whole industries benefited from it.
"Glasgow has been reluctant to acknowledge this and it's only lately that people have started to talk about it."
Another display of art which fuelled outrage among critics was the Special Unit project, featuring art created by some of Scotland's most dangerous prisoners. The penal reform scheme launched in the mid-1970s, led by convicted murderer-turned-sculptor and writer Jimmy Boyle.
A huge mural painted by at the jail was depicted in photographs at the museum, along with matchstick models prisoners created in secret which, upon being discovered, would be routinely destroyed by the officers.
"The Special Unit was never repeated, but it was a success on the grounds that when you don't treat human beings animals, you could get creativity out of them," Dr King said. "It was seen as a cushy number for killers and it wasn't best liked.
"But that mural was a hugely important piece of artwork, their commentary on society."
But Dr King believes her greatest achievement was shedding light on Glasgow's mediaeval history; the roots of our nation which she felt had been forgotten in time.
During her tenure, the early history section of the museum told the story of the Reformation, Robert the Bruce and the role Glasgow Bishop Wishart played in the Wars of Independence and religion in Scotland.
While there were not many mediaeval relics available for display, the team had recruited contemporary artists from the Glasgow School of Art to create an exhibit.
"That was probably one of the most important things we did. These events were so important in making Scotland an independent country from England in the 14th century and for freedom of worship.
"Without Glasgow, there is no Scotland. Scotland's fate has been sealed so many times in this city.
"None of these things have been explored or celebrated to their full potential. This is a chronological narrative that everyone should be entitled to learn about. Since I left it has been ripped out."
After a time of uncertainty during the pandemic, the People's Palace reopened to the public this summer on a limited basis, though the adjoining Winter Gardens remain closed due to structural issues.
Dr King said she has proposed a new project around the Barras to chiefs at the People's Palace, though nothing has been set in stone.
"The Barras was a fantastic place; so many great things at the Palace came from there and it should be formally acknowledged," she added.
"I think it’s high time that the worth of Glasgow’s cultural production is recognised and celebrated.
"The People's Palace is the only museum about Glasgow, for Glasgow – and it's time to put our history back on the agenda. "
