‘A Virtual Visit’: National Records of Scotland Digital Doors Open Days 2023

Doors Open Days (DOD) ‘is Scotland’s largest free festival that celebrates places and stories, new and old.’ Its aim is to give everyone the opportunity to explore some of the most architecturally and culturally significant buildings in Scotland, places which are not usually open to the public or which usually charge an entry fee.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) is participating digitally in the Edinburgh and East Lothian Doors Open Days this year, on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th September.

NRS is participating in Doors Open Days digitally this year while we carry out essential maintenance work on our city centre buildings. We have however curated a number of digital resources to allow you to explore our oldest buildings and spaces virtually. But first, some background information about DOD.

Doors Open Days

DOD is coordinated nationally by the Scottish Civic Trust and it is part of European Heritage Days together with Scottish Archaeology Month which is organised by Archaeology Scotland. Both events are supported by Historic Environment Scotland. A team of dedicated regional coordinators across Scotland work in partnership with venues and groups to help develop and produce local programmes for their communities.

This year’s Edinburgh and East Lothian DOD has been organised by Ian Sudlow-McKay, the Regional Co-ordinator. It will be the 33rd year of DOD in Edinburgh and the fifth year in East Lothian. You can visit the DOD website to find out more about which buildings in Edinburgh and East Lothian will be open this weekend, and what you can do and see.

About National Records of Scotland

NRS has participated in DOD for many years. We have welcomed visitors into our buildings for behind the scenes tours, exhibitions and the opportunity to speak to us about what we do.

NRS is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government and was established on 1 April 2011, following the merger of the National Archives of Scotland and the General Register Office for Scotland. Our purpose is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland’s people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. NRS performs the registration and statistical functions of the Registrar General for Scotland and the archival functions of the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, including maintaining the archives as one of Scotland’s five National Collections.

NRS holds around 80 km (49.7 miles) of records which are stored in secure and temperature controlled rooms. The records span from the twelfth to the twenty-first centuries, touching on virtually every aspect of Scottish life. We are responsible for the public and legal records of Scotland but we also have many local and private archives. They relate to a variety of subjects including: the church, law, government and everyday life. We hold and make available one of the most varied archive collections of records in Britain.

NRS’ collections are housed across four buildings in Edinburgh, three of which are in the New Town: General Register House, New Register House and West Register House which are within a 15 minute walk of each other. The fourth, Thomas Thomson House, a modern purpose-built repository, can be found to the west of the city, 30 mins away on the tram.

You can visit and use our services as normal during our opening hours – find out more at the NRS website.

Fly-through animation of General Register House

To find out what General Register House was like when it was first opened to the public in the eighteenth century, visit our digital 3D fly-through animation.

This animation was created by the Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation (a partnership between Historic Environment Scotland and The Glasgow School of Art) based on research on General Register House by John McLintock.

Video tour of New Register House

Have you ever wondered where the records you search on ScotlandsPeople are held?
A video tour of New Register House allows you to go behind the scenes and explore the building’s impressive central dome in this beautiful building, (where the statutory registers, Old Parish Registers and open census records are stored), and learn more about its history and purpose.

You can also find out more about the history of our oldest buildings in an article written for Doors Open Day 2020 for NRS’ Blog Open Book.

Explore the Archivists’ Garden virtually

The open courtyard between General Register House and New Register House is called the Archivists’ Garden. It is a unique garden planted with 59 plant species – all connected in some way to Scotland’s collective memory, whether through myth and folklore, heraldry, or association with individual famous Scots.

You can take a walk round the Archivists’ Garden remotely via a 3D digital scan, in a similar way to using Google Street view, on a computer by clicking and dragging your mouse, or using the keyboard arrows to move through the virtual space. Or on a mobile device by using your fingers to navigate around the space.

You can hover and click on or touch the ‘circular dots’ to find out more about the plants and surrounding buildings. The plant ‘tags’ provide more information about each plant and why it was chosen for the garden as well as its connection to Scottish history and life.

You can also hear from the minds behind the garden, in an interview
with David Mitchell, former curator of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and Eelco Hooftman, Landscape Architect, where they discuss the creation of garden.

They also discuss their favourite plants: Sea Thrift, apples, pears and ferns; and their friendship which grew working together on the garden. All videos are available on the NRS’ Youtube channel.

We hope you enjoy our digital resources and connect with us via Facebook and Twitter during DOD this weekend. We also encourage you to investigate what else is going on in Edinburgh and East Lothian and beyond via the DOD website and join in and follow the conversation at #NRSArchives and #DoorsOpenDays.

Tessa Spencer
Archivist
National Records of Scotland