A 'Scheme of My Protection': Rosalind Birnie Philip and the history of the James McNeill and Beatrix Whistler Collection at the University of Glasgow

The Whistler Collection, held at the University of Glasgow, is one of the most important collections related to the nineteenth-century American artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) in the world. It was established in the mid-1930s by the artist's sister in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) who donated the Whistler Estate to the University through two gifts in 1935 and 1954, and one bequest - gift made after her death - in 1958. This article is the first study to focus on Birnie Philip and offers an in-depth examination and comparative analysis of all the conditions that she placed on all her gifts to the University of Glasgow and the historical context for those conditions