Today, NRS Head of Conservation Linda Ramsay explains what her team's role is and looks back at the history of paper conservation in Scotland... Public interest in objects and their conservation and preservation has never been stronger. ”Before and afters“ are endlessly fascinating, connecting us to our past and history, and next to cookery and … Continue reading What is Conservation?
National Records of Scotland – Remembrance and the Roll of Honour
11 November marks Armistice, also known as Remembrance Day, where those who lost their lives lost during the First World War are commemorated. Over 16 million people died during the war and although there is no accepted total of Scottish war dead, estimates vary between 100,000 and 135,000. The sheer scale of the conflict mobilised … Continue reading National Records of Scotland – Remembrance and the Roll of Honour
We Don’t Just Do Paper: Depositing Digital Records
On World Digital Preservation Day, archivist Eve Wright (below right, with NRS digital capacity planning lead Joanne Watson) tells us how NRS is working to record Scotland's records for the future - both records that are created on paper and in other formats... Today marks World Digital Preservation Day where institutions around the world advocate … Continue reading We Don’t Just Do Paper: Depositing Digital Records
“Oh! Rowan Tree, thou’lt aye be dear to me”
“Oh! Rowan Tree, thou’lt aye be dear to me” Hallowe’en, or All Saints’ Eve, is considered the time of year that the physical and supernatural realms are at their closest, and magical (or spooky) occurrences are possible. It is also a time of celebration; the end of summer and the thanksgiving of the harvest. This … Continue reading “Oh! Rowan Tree, thou’lt aye be dear to me”
Out Guising
It is once again the tail end of the year, where the clocks go back, the days get darker, and spirits come ever closer to the waking world. In the Celtic calendar the year was divided into two halves: the dormant and dark winter; and the bright and vibrant summer. This was split again into … Continue reading Out Guising
The “Radical Rising” of 1820
The “Radical War” or “Radical Rising” of 1820, also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest in Scotland that culminated in the trial of a number of ‘radicals’ for treason. National Records of Scotland (NRS) holds the trial records and to mark the 200th anniversary of this event, … Continue reading The “Radical Rising” of 1820
Doors Open Days: The Court Doodler
As part of the first ever digital Doors Open Days, archivist Dr Alison Rosie looks at ink sketches of national symbols found in an Exchequer record from the 1530s and explains their significance... Household Book of James V: E31/6 The accounts of King James V’s pantry, kitchen, buttery and cellars for the years 1525-1539 survive … Continue reading Doors Open Days: The Court Doodler
Doors Open Days
2020 marks the 30th anniversary of Doors Open Days, Scotland’s largest free festival and celebration of architecture, culture and heritage. NRS archivist Tessa Spencer explains the background to this festival in Scotland and our involvement, as well as a brief history of our oldest buildings and highlights taking part in the first ever digital DOD. … Continue reading Doors Open Days
Prisoners or Patients? The Story of Margaret Hunter or Beaton
Prisons have a much higher proportion of men and women with mental disorders than the general population. This was also true in Victorian times, when ‘the liability of the criminal classes to an excess of insanity is very great, and much beyond that of the free population of the country’. At this time, The Prisons … Continue reading Prisoners or Patients? The Story of Margaret Hunter or Beaton
Locked Down: The Inveraray Jail album
NRS Conservator Jacqueline Thorburn is one of the team responsible for conserving items held within the NRS archives. Here, she tells us about a fascinating artefact of Victorian Scotland that she has worked on – a small book containing details and photographs of inmates of Inverarary Jail… Front cover and title page, before treatment This … Continue reading Locked Down: The Inveraray Jail album
Open Book 