On 6 April, NRS is celebrating the 700th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath one of Scotland’s most iconic and famous historic documents and a key treasure in our archives. Ahead of the anniversary Dr Alan Borthwick – NRS head of medieval and early modern records - looks at the document’s long and surprising history and … Continue reading What is the Declaration of Arbroath?
Web Archiving & Web Continuity
National Records of Scotland is today celebrating World Digital Preservation Day. We caught up with our web continuity assistant Barbara Fuentes at West Register House, who told us about her work on archiving websites, helping to ensure that digital records are captured and preserved for the future… Digital Records NRS has been archiving paper records for … Continue reading Web Archiving & Web Continuity
Talking obsolescence in Oban: 2019 Community Archive Workshop Tour of Scotland
We’re constantly surrounded by digital material – tweets, photos, videos and much more – but stored information is surprisingly vulnerable and easy to lose, with community archives’ content particularly at risk. World Digital Preservation Day is an annual celebration of efforts across the globe to secure and preserve our digital record. In this blog post, … Continue reading Talking obsolescence in Oban: 2019 Community Archive Workshop Tour of Scotland
Tulloch, Burke and Brook
On 2nd August 1847, a young man named Archibald Burke allegedly attacked and raped Elspeth Duffus, the wife of the local carter, on a quiet country road in Couper-Angus. Under normal circumstances, once any physical evidence of wrongdoing had been gathered and once the proposed list of witnesses had been finalised and their declarations duly … Continue reading Tulloch, Burke and Brook
The Dummy Dodge – Part 1
On the 30th March 1855, an article appeared in the Aberdeen Free Press seeking to alert its readers to the emergence of a worrying new phenomenon: a ‘class of sturdy beggars’ who falsely assumed the appearance of disability in order to reap ‘a rather plentiful harvest’, while leading lives of idleness and dissipation. Denounced as … Continue reading The Dummy Dodge – Part 1
Fringe Festival Exhibition – ‘Prisoners or Patients? Criminal Insanity in Victorian Scotland’
‘Prisoners or Patients?’ is the latest part of a major project I began in 2016, to use the lessons of history to stimulate awareness of mental health issues in the modern world. Using free podcasts, social media, and photo exhibitions of asylum and prison patients I tried to reach out to sufferers and those close … Continue reading Fringe Festival Exhibition – ‘Prisoners or Patients? Criminal Insanity in Victorian Scotland’
The Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund
149 years after the birth of entertainer Sir Harry Lauder, NRS archivist Veronica Schreuder investigates his "Million Pound Fund", established to help soldiers returning from the battlefields of the First World War... Sir Harry Lauder was the highest paid artist in variety theatre during the First World War, and the enthusiastic driving force behind ‘The … Continue reading The Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund
Scotland and Women’s Suffrage
Women’s suffrage was the pursuit of the right for women to vote in political elections. Pursued by both women and men, it was a long and arduous campaign that lasted 86 years before the Representation of the People Act came into force on 6 February 1918 and gave, some, women the right to vote. Some … Continue reading Scotland and Women’s Suffrage
Register House and New Edinburgh
Enthusiasts for the Georgian first New Town of Edinburgh sometimes called it New Edinburgh. Anyone who called it this knew that Register House was its most important building, as it remains today. As the home to our country’s archival history, this building plays an important role in celebrating the Scottish Enlightenment for both citizens and … Continue reading Register House and New Edinburgh
From the NRS Archives: The Douglas Cause
Heir Hunters, 18th century style 250 years ago today, Britain was gripped by a scandalous court case that divided the nation. On one side: those who supported Archibald Douglas as the legal heir to his uncle, the Duke of Douglas. Ranged against them, those supporting the rival claim of the Duke of Hamilton, who believed … Continue reading From the NRS Archives: The Douglas Cause
Open Book 