Since the seventeenth century Glasgow has been a gateway for economic, social and cultural exchange between Scotland and North America.

From the tobacco trade to the annual Transatlantic Sessions concerts, these connections provide the foundation for American Studies at the University of Glasgow, which has long been at the forefront of the study of American society and culture in the British Isles. The University of Glasgow was one of the first British universities to take seriously the study of the literature, history and politics of the United States of America. John Nichol (Glasgow’s first Regius Professor of Literature, appointed in 1862) taught American literature at a time when no British and very few American academics believed that American literature deserved to be considered part of English literature. His book American literature: an historical sketch, 1620-1880 (1882) was the first such volume to be published on either side of the Atlantic.

In 1997 the University of Glasgow recognized this heritage with the creation of the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies. The Hook Centre has become Scotland’s only centre for American Studies, and it sponsors the most extensive American Studies lecture and seminar series in Scotland, which is open to academics, students and the general public.