This article explores the shifting relationship between Scottish Travellers, voluntary and mission action, and the state. Examining missionary and state attempts to settle, assimilate, and turn Scots Travellers into so-called good citizens in the first decades of the twentieth century—initially during the First World War and later in a designated camping scheme in Perthshire—reveals three things. First, many of the techniques used to manage Travellers’ behavior were not exceptional but rather can be seen as part of the wider armory deployed by welfare workers and reformers in this period. Often they used the particular sites of the mission hall, schoolroom, and camping ground to inculcate good citizenship. Second, the boundary between state and voluntary action was never fixed. And third, exploring how this boundary shifted over time can lead to a better understand of how Travellers were positioned as citizens at a time when both who was considered a citizen and what that might mean were profoundly changing. In this way, this article not only extends our understanding of Gypsy and Traveller history but also contributes to histories of the state, citizenship, and voluntary action.

本文探讨了苏格兰旅行者、志愿和宣教行动以及国家之间不断变化的关系。审视二十世纪头几十年传教士和国家为定居、同化苏格兰旅行者并将他们转变为所谓好公民所做的努力——最初是在第一次世界大战期间，后来是在佩斯郡的一个指定露营计划中——揭示了三件事。首先，许多用于管理旅行者行为的技术并不是例外，而是可以被视为这一时期福利工作者和改革者所部署的更广泛的武器库的一部分。他们经常利用传教厅、教室和露营地等特定地点来灌输良好的公民意识。其次，国家行动和自愿行动之间的界限从来都不是固定的。第三，探索这一边界如何随着时间的推移而变化，可以更好地理解在谁被视为公民以及公民的含义都在发生深刻变化的时代，旅行者如何被定位为公民。这样，本文不仅扩展了我们对吉普赛人和游民历史的理解，而且也为国家、公民和志愿行动的历史做出了贡献。