Archives, Records and Artefacts

Dundee Royal Infirmary Admissions

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:05:00 +0000

The scale of Irish immigration to Dundee is clearly demonstrated in the admission registers of Dundee Royal Infirmary held by Archive Services.

Our volunteers are currently undertaking a long term project to transfer the information contained in the Dundee Royal Infirmary admission registers, which start in 1842, onto a searchable database. This will make it much easier for researchers to use the information contained in these volumes, particularly for family historians looking for relatives who had been patients. So far more than 2,700 entries have been added to the database which covers the period January 1842 to November 1843.

The data has already revealed some interesting information about Dundee at that time (not just related to medicine) for example the admission registers record the nationality of the patient and the county or parish in which they were born.

For the period 1842-1843:

72.28% of the patients admitted were Scottish, 22.19% were Irish, just 2.51% were English and 0.80% were ‘foreign’

Of the 610 patients who were recorded as Irish 91 had Ireland listed as their place of birth and of the remainder the most common counties recorded were:

· Armagh: 57 patients

· Sligo: 53

· Kings County (now Offaly): 48

· Cavan: 47

· Derry/Londonderry: 45

· Monaghan: 43

· Antrim: 36

· Tyrone: 32

The registers also state the patients’ current residence so we know that the 57 patients from Armagh settled in 25 different locations in Dundee. The most popular areas were:

Hawkhill (8)

Bonnett Hill (7)

Gowden Knows (5)

Scouringburn (5)

This is just a small example of the kinds of information and statistics that can be gathered from these patient admission registers. Many other avenues can be examined as the registers show patient name, occupation, marital status, age and dates of admission and discharge. Watch out for future blogs which will explore this further.

The admission registers are available to be consulted in the archive searchroom, please contact us for more information, archives@dundee.ac.uk.

eARMMS, April 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:50:00 +0000

This is the latest edition of the ARMMS and CAIS newsletter, eARMMS, that we also post here. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.
In this edition:

Zoology Museum events
Archives online
Visit of international PhD student
New semester
Disaster preparedness
Dundee Royal Infirmary (DRI) Admissions Register
The Robert Hugh Stannus Robertson collection
Abertay Historical Society 65th Anniversary
New Archive volunteers
Families in British India Society
International Source List
Graduation, summer 2012
Peto Image of the Week
World Book Night

1. Zoology Museum events

After a hugely successful Easter opening, the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum is playing host to various special events over the next few weeks, starting on 17 April when Professor Tony Martin will be giving a talk about the multi-million pound project he is leading to restore native wildlife on South Georgia. On 1 May, Dr Chris Connolly from the Medical Research Institute at Ninewells will be talking about a new neurological research project to investigate the declining population of bees by exploring the impact of pesticaides on their nervous systems. On 8 May we present the fourth annual creative writing event, Notes from the Museum, in which writers from the School of Humanities perform poetry and prose they've written inspired by D'Arcy's collections. Full details on all these events and more can be found at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/zoology/events.htm.

2. Archives online

Caroline attended a one day conference organised by UK Archives Discover Network (UKAD) which looked at new developments in cataloguing and sharing and exchanging data. Caroline is working on a project for the Scottish Council on Archives (SCA) to extend the Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) and create an interactive online portal for catalogues so it was interesting to hear the papers at the conference and to meet with representatives of the National Archives at Kew to talk about their plans for a portal for archives in England.

3. Visit of international PhD student

During March we were pleased to welcome Cherri-Ann Beckles, Assistant Archivist, University of the West Indies, to Dundee. Cherri is currently undertaking doctoral study with the Centre for Archive and Information Studies (CAIS) on international approaches to data protection/privacy legislation. Cherri will also be moving to Dundee for three months in the autumn to examine various approaches to Data Protection Act (DPA) compliance in Scottish universities whilst on sabbatical from the University of the West Indies.

4. New semester

The CAIS team have been busy processing student applications and interviewing applicants for the May intake of our distance-learning courses. In total there will be 25 new students starting our various programmes of study, including 9 on our Masters pathways. For further information about our courses please see http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cais/ and for more information on our various CPD opportunities please have a look at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cais/cpd/modules_for_cpd.htm or get in touch with us at armtraining@dundee.ac.uk.

5. Disaster preparedness

Alan, Caroline, Mhairi and Durham were reminded of the importance of keeping a well-stocked disaster recovery kit this month. A leak in the roof of an off-site store resulted in water running along shelving and very close to some of our records. Nothing was damaged and we were able to move the records out of harm's way and mop up accordingly, but the incident was a timely reminder of how quickly disasters can happen and the implications of not being able to respond as quickly as possible.

6. Dundee Royal Infirmary (DRI) Admissions Register

More than 2,600 entries have now been transferred from the Dundee Royal Infirmary Patient Admission Register onto a searchable database. So far this covers the period January 1842 – November 1843 and already it is showing some interesting information about Dundee at that time (besides the obvious medical information). For example it records the nationality and place of birth of the patient which for this time period shows that 73.07% of the patients admitted were Scottish, 22.06% were Irish while just 2.3% were English and 0.69% were 'foreign'. It can also tell us where the patients were living at the time; the majority lived at Scouringburn (14.17%), Overgate (13.29%) and Hawkhill (7.66%). This is obviously a long term project but should prove to be a useful resource for researchers once completed.

7. The Robert Hugh Stannus Robertson collection

Keren is currently cataloguing the papers of Robert Hugh Stannus Robertson. After obtaining an MA in geology, mineralogy and chemistry at the University of Cambridge, Robertson was appointed chief chemist in 1933 to the Fuller’s Earth Union Ltd in Surrey, where he spent nine very successful years. He devoted all his working life to applying science to industry and specialised in the creation of new processes and new industries. In 1958 he moved to Pitlochry where he worked as a consultant, rapidly becoming a highly respected international authority on the uses of clay minerals, the methodology of raw material development and the management of innovation. The collection has been worked on by several different people so it is now coming together as a whole with some very interesting items relating to peat, nuts and their uses. For further information about the collection please get in touch with us at archives@dundee.ac.uk.

8. Abertay Historical Society 65th Anniversary

The Abertay Historical Society (AHS) will celebrate the 65th Anniversary of its founding in May. Archive Services hold the archives of the Society including the papers related to its foundation. Over the years several members of ARMMS staff have been involved with the society and current council members include Dr Kenneth Baxter and Matthew Jarron, who is Secretary of the Society. Kenneth has been going through the archives to gather some information on the AHS’ early days to use in publicity for the anniversary.

9. New Archive volunteers

Archive Services are pleased to welcome 3 new volunteers to the archives. Beth, Doug and Adey will be coming in at various times on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Beth is currently working on the Rep archive, Doug is doing some scanning and looking at the Dundee Art Society collection and Adey is working on our book collections. We wish them all well and are very pleased to welcome them to our team. Thanks are also due to our longer term volunteers John, Jaqui, and Rosanna.

10. Families in British India Society

Caroline was asked to give a talk to Scottish members of the Families in British India Society (FIBIS) on the collections that we have in the archives with a connection to India. It was difficult to limit the talk to 30 minutes given the amount of material that we have but the audience was interested and asked several questions, as well as taking leaflets on our family and local history distance learning courses. More information on our holdings can be found online at, www.dundee.ac.uk/archives.

11. International Source List

The International Source List is now available online. This is a list of records in our collections that relate to countries other than Scotland or England. Wales was included in the list of countries because it was a good way to draw together items relating to Wales. The International Source List reveals how important the international context has been for Dundee historically, through industrial, academic and personal connections. These include the famous connection with India because of jute, investment in North America, spreading religion in New England, involvement in Europe during the World Wars, and there is even mention of pirates in the Caribbean! www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/international.htm.

12. Graduation, Summer 2012

The deadline for students registering for the graduation ceremony on 19 June 2012 was Friday 6 April. There are 27 students registered for graduation. Of these, seven are graduating with the Masters, 13 are graduating with the Postgraduate Diploma and seven are graduating with the Postgraduate Certificate. To date six students have confirmed they will be attending the ceremony. Further information on the ceremony can be found at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/registry/main/com/grad/. We are very much looking forward to graduation and hope all our students and their families have a wonderful day.

13. Peto Image of the Week

All the images used for Peto Image of the Week are now available online as part of the 'The Peto Collection Image of the Week Archive' the page being available at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/peto/imageofweekarchive.htm. The images are in chronological order, the most recent at the top, and grouped according to the month in which they were used. Normally, the images relate to a topical issue; a current news item, the anniversary of an important historical event or the anniversary of a famous person's birth or death.

14. World Book Night

Monday 23 April, which was both the birth and death dates of William Shakespeare, was World Book Night. The event's founder and Chair is Jamie Byng, Managing Director of Canongate, the Archive of which is held by Archive Services. Pat was a World Book Night Giver and received 24 copies of Small Island, by Andrea Levy, to give away. The purpose is to encourage reading and the books should be read and passed on to others. Each book has a unique identifier, which can be logged and monitored on the World Book Night web site. More information is available at: http://www.worldbooknight.org/.

Free Volunteering Roadshow in Dundee

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:39:00 +0000

Please find below details of a free training event organised by the Archives & Records Association UK & Ireland with the support of the Centre for Archive and Information Studies and the Scottish Council on Archives.

· Working with volunteers: opportunities and challenges

· A mix of speakers, workshops and group discussions

· Friday 18 May 2012, Tower Building, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN

· 10.30-16.15, coffee and lunch provided

· Two travel bursaries are available for this event for two ‘archive assistant staff with day-to-day contact with volunteers’

The full programme is below. To book a place, please email membership@archives.org.uk with the Subject Heading: Dundee Volunteering Roadshow. Include your name, organisation, contact email and phone number.

To apply for a travel bursary email c.z.brown@dundee.ac.uk with your contact details and a short paragraph explaining your interest in the event and the reasons you wish to apply for a bursary.

The Archives and Records Association

Supported by the

Centre for Archive and Information Studies, University of Dundee

and the Scottish Council on Archives

Volunteering Roadshow

18^th May 2012

River Rooms, Ninth Floor, Tower Building, University of Dundee

10.30-10.45 Registration and coffee and welcome

10.45-11.15 ‘Friend or Foe? Assessing the value of volunteers’, Jan Merchant, Assistant Archivist, Perth & Kinross Council Archive

11.15-11.45 'Openness, variety and choice: different paths to volunteering', Rachel Hosker, Archive Manager, Scottish Borders Council

11.45-12.15 ‘The symbiosis of volunteering: creating a mutually beneficial relationship’, Rachel Hart, Muniments Archivist and Deputy Head of Special Collections, University of St Andrews

12.15-12.30 Discussion

12.30-13.15 Lunch

13.15-14.15 Case studies

14.15-14.30 ‘Volunteering the view from the ground’, Kirsty Lee, volunteer, University of St Andrews

14.30-15.15 Creating a volunteering policy

15.15-15.30 Coffee

15.30-15.40 Useful sources of information, Caroline Brown, Deputy Archivist and Programme Leader, University of Dundee

15.40-16.15 Review of frequently asked questions and discussion

The Dundee Jute Strike, 1912: ‘We will never be content - Till we get our ten per cent’ – sinister discovery in the University Archives!

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:25:00 +0000

The years 1910 to 1914 were a year of militancy and strikes across the whole of the United Kingdom. In Dundee, a city dominated at the time by the textile industry, one of the local responses included the jute workers leaving their looms and mills to take to the streets in1912. The early days of the strike were marked by a spirit of good-humoured defiance and good natured gatherings. Although a local newspaper, probably the Evening Telegraph and Post, reported that the striking workers had marched through the city singing ‘war songs’, the primary concern for the reporter at the scene seemed to be the hats and masks of the strikers that enhanced the initial carnival atmosphere.

As the strike wore on tensions began to rise, with the employees of Cox Brothers in Lochee becoming particularly militant. On one occasion Baxter Brothers’ Dens Works was besieged by four hundred masked strikers from Lochee who were brandishing sticks and other weapons. They succeeded in preventing the Dens Works workers from entering the mill by throwing stones and missiles at them, although eventually the police were able to open a passage to the gate.

Records in the Cox Brothers collection may indicate how seriously the company treated the demonstrations. Filed with a volume of newspaper cuttings on the strikes compiled by the firm, are gun catalogues and correspondence with Harrods relating to an order for revolvers. Cox Brothers requested around twenty revolvers, of the type that would fire up to 32 shots without reloading, but were informed that there might be a delay due to ‘a very large demand’. Perhaps the company, and other employers across the country, were so alarmed by the depth of feeling amongst the workers that they took serious measures to protect themselves and their factories in the event of riots.

At one point during the strike a total of 30,000 millworkers in Dundee were locked out. In the end, however, the employers gave in to the demand for a wage increase, although the 2½% increase was far short of the 10% and 15% demanded. The final settlement was agreed on April 14^th and the following day the workers at Cox Brothers voted to return to work, an event that marked the end of the dispute. Coincidently this was also the day on which the Titanic sank.

The Cox Brothers collection in the University Archives contains a wealth of material relating to the strike and is part of the larger Sidlaw Industries collection (MS 66). Sidlaw Industries was originally

Jute Industries, a company formed in 1920 by the amalgamation of several leading Dundee jute manufacturers including Cox Brothers, J.& A.D. Grimond and Harry Walker. The records are available for consultation in the University Archives and relate to a broad range of subjects including finance, wages, accidents, strikes, shareholders, and stock – in addition the collection also contains a number of photographs and plans.

eARMMS, March 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:26:00 +0000

This is the latest edition of the ARMMS and CAIS newsletter, eARMMS, that we also post here. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.

E-ARMMS first birthday
Centre for Environmental Change & Human Resilience (CECHR) Conversations
Human Race touring exhibition
CAIS study day
New Publication
Archive Enquiries
New Resource
Scottish Universities Special Collections and Archives group meeting
Managing electronic records / Public History
Archive Class
Economic & Social History Society of Scotland Spring conference

1. E-ARMMS first birthday

Our E-ARMMS Newsletter turns one this month. We’ve really enjoyed putting the newsletter together over the last twelve months and hope you’ve enjoyed reading it. To date we’ve written 117 postings. These have covered all aspects of the work of the Archive, Records Management, Museum Services and CAIS departments, ranging from new acquisitions, to the delivery of presentations, major exhibitions and new CPD and Masters Courses. To have a browse through past editions please see, http://www.dundee.ac.uk/armms/e-armms_past.htm.

2. Centre for Environmental Change & Human Resilience (CECHR) Conversations

The latest exhibition by Museum Services in the Lamb Gallery features work by Jean Duncan, artist-in-residence with CECHR, an interdisciplinary collaboration between the University of Dundee and the James Hutton Institute. As well as Jean's own artworks, the exhibition also features photographs, models and prints by some of the researchers that Jean has been working with at CECHR. The exhibition runs until 14th April.

3. Human Race touring exhibition

Museum curator Matthew Jarron is on the management board of Scotland and Medicine, which has just launched its latest touring exhibition Human Race: Inside the Science of Sports Medicine. The exhibition has received funding from the Olympics Legacy Trust (one of only two museum projects in Scotland to do so) and is an official part of the Cultural Olympiad. The exhibition (which features several objects from the Tayside Medical History Museum's collections) has opened at the University of Stirling and will be coming to Dundee in September, showing in both the Lamb Gallery and the Institute of Sport and Exercise.

4. CAIS study Day

On the 10th March CAIS held a Study Day in Berwick for 20 distance-learning family and local history students. Bringing together the expertise and knowledge of five CAIS tutors, students undertook a number of sessions on Local Government Records, Palaeography, Transcription and Analysis as well as group sessions on Police, School and Poor Relief Records.

5. New Publication

The Abertay Historical Society launches its 52nd publication Dundee’s Two Intrepid Ladies: A Tour Round the World by D C Thomson’s Female Journalists in 1894, edited and introduced by Susan Keracher on 31st March. As part of the launch event, to be held at The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum, Kenneth will be giving a short talk on Dundee women at that time. Other talks will be given by Murray Thomson, of D C Thomson & Co Ltd, and Dundee University Professor Jim Tomlinson. More details about this event may be obtained from Matthew Jarron, http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/contact_us/

6. Archive Enquiries

As ever we have dealt with several telephone and e-mail enquiries in the past month. These have come from a variety of sources including academics, family historians, students, publishers, professionals and members of the University staff. These enquiries have covered a diverse range of topics including Dundonians working in India, the genealogy of the Baxter textile dynasty, the history of the University and the records of patients in Sunnyside Hospital.

7. New Resource

Kenneth has recently compiled information relating to the Neish Family of Tannadice and Clepington. The Archive has a very interesting collection of scrapbooks belonging to the family (MS 160) which mainly contains items relating to British military campaigns from the late nineteenth century to the Great War. The Neish family had a strong military tradition and several members of the family held commissions in the Boer War and the Great War.

8. Scottish Universities Special Collections and Archives group meeting

Pat and Caroline visited Aberdeen University Library Special Collections for a meeting of the Scottish Universities Special Collections and Archives Group. Part of the meeting included a tour of the new University Library, exhibition area and Special Collections department.

9. Managing electronic records /Public History

Pat, Caroline and Alan visited the parliamentary archives based in the House of Lords in London. Part of the meeting focused on the management of electronic records, discussing tools and systems that might be suitable for use in managing the university’s digital archives. They also met Caroline Shenton, Clerk of the Records, to discuss a forthcoming Public History module for the Centre for Archive and Information Studies.

10. Archive Class

Jennifer and Caroline hosted a class of twenty College of Education students last week as part of their programme of study. The students were fascinated by the Archive collections and were particularly interested in our asylum records, letters from First World War soldiers, and the Joseph Lee prisoner of war diaries. Further information about these records and our other collections can be found online at http://134.36.1.31/search/search-all.htm.

11. Economic & Social History Society of Scotland Spring Conference

Pat, who is Convenor of the Society, attended the latest conference, held in Glasgow, which was on the subject: 'Scotland and the Indian Subcontinent'. Speakers included Professor Jim Tomlinson, University of Dundee, Dr Stana Nenadic, University of Edinburgh and Suchitra Choudhury, University of Glasgow. Following the conference delegates, speakers and chairs very appropriately met for a very good curry in Byres Road. For more information on the Society and to receive email updates on history events in Scotland email Development Officer, Dr Iain Hutchison, at iain@keapub.fsnet.co.uk.

Dundee at War

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:09:00 +0000

From the Boer War to the First World War through the eyes of the Neish family of Tannadice and Clepington.

In our collections we have three large scrapbooks which have always been something of a mystery. At first sight they seem just to contain press cuttings but on closer inspection they also include telegrams and other ephemera covering the period 1896-1917. This was a period of national and international conflict and the volumes include material relating to British military campaigns during the second Boer War, the Boxer Rebellion and the First World War, as well as to the Russo-Japanese War and the Dogger Bank incident. Events of national importance, such as Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, are also mentioned.

Until recently the provenance of these items was obscure, all that was known about them was that they were seemingly compiled by a member or members of the family called Neish. Further research now suggests that these scrapbooks were put together by a close relative of William Neish of Tannadice and Clepington, whose family were active in the military at this time and an influential family in Dundee. Key members in the family are described below:

William Neish (b c 1815): born in Dundee, became a well-known barrister in the city. Married Margaret Ann Watson and had nine children.
George Watson Neish (1849-1931): son of William, founded the firm of Neish, Howell and Haldane in London
Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish KBE CB (1857-1934): son of William, Registrar of the Privy Council from 1909 until 1934
Edward William Neish (c 1865-1938): son of William, a Sherriff Substitute from 1905 to 1932
Major Colin Graham Neish OBE (1860-1931), son of William, had a notable career in the army
Lt. Col Francis Hugh Neish (1863-1946): son of William, served in Sudan, the second Boer War and at Mons at the start of the Great War.
William Neish (c 1882-1931): son of George Watson Neish, was a Major by 1914.

William Neish is 4th from the left

Both Lt. Col Neish and his nephew William, who were serving with the Gordon Highlanders, were captured at Mons. No doubt inspired by the plight of his brother and his son, George Watson Neish served as Convener of City of Dundee and Forfarshire Prisoner of War Help Committee throughout the Great War.

An odd coda to the family’s war service came when Colonel W. E. Gordon of the Gordon Highlanders lodged a case for slander against the publishers John Leng & Co. Their newspaper The People’s Journal had printed an article which implied that Colonel Gordon had needlessly surrendered the Gordons at Mons.

Lt. Col Neish, who had had a poor relationship with Gordon since the surrender, was called as a witness. It was hinted that Gordon blamed Neish for the surrender, although the latter denied any involvement in ordering it. During the case it emerged that Neish and two of his brothers owned shares in John Leng & Co. Gordon’s legal team implied that the family might have used the article to deflect blame away from Neish himself, an allegation they strongly denied. Colonel Gordon won his case and £500 damages, but the question of who had ordered the surrender and why remained unanswered by the verdict.

The Neish family’s name lives on today in the Jock Neish Scout Centre cited on the family’s land at Tannadice. The Centre was named for Colin Francis Ian ‘Jock’ Neish (1897-1977), a former officer in the Black Watch and the son of Major Colin Neish, who devoted much of his life to the scouting movement. A less obvious legacy of the family is the name of Dundee United’s stadium Tannadice Park. Built on what was the Clepington part of the Neishs’ lands, it owes its name to the Neish estate at Tannadice.

It seems, then, that the scrapbooks were compiled by members of the Neish family to record their involvement in the various campaigns with which they were involved. Whatever their origins Archive Services has a fascinating resource covering the key conflicts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which shaped the world we live in today.

For more information about the scrapbooks and other collections relating to war and military campaigns contact archives@dundee.ac.uk

eARMMS

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:36:00 +0000

ARMMS and CAIS publish a newsletter each month which we post on our website and send out by email. This is the most recent edition of eARMMS, rounding up our news from February. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.

In this edition:

New Exhibition in Tower Foyer Gallery
Papers of former Academic Secretary
Who Do You Think You Are Live? 2012
Oral History Project
New Archive Accessions
Archive Classes
Disaster Planning
Article in Comma
JISC Research Project on FoI
The Michael Peto Photographic Collection Project

1. New Exhibition in Tower Foyer Gallery

The latest exhibition by Museum Services in the Tower Foyer Gallery features some of the most recent additions to the University's fine art collections. These include paintings, prints, photographs and artists books purchased from the last two Degree Shows at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design; original comics art by the legendary Dudley D Watkins, acquired with a grant from the National Fund for Acquisitions; prints by leading contemporary Scottish artists Katy Dove, Toby Paterson and Louise Hopkins; and new additions to the Centre for Artists' Books collection from the Visual Research Centre. The exhibition continues until 14 April.

2. Papers of former Academic Secretary

Kenneth has been going through a most interesting accession of material very kindly donated by Dr Ian Francis, who retired recently as Academic Secretary. The accession consists of a number of key documents mainly relating to the governance of the University since its foundation in 1881 which were collected by successive members of the University's administrative staff.

3. Who Do You Think You Are? 2012

CAIS was represented at the annual Who Do You Think You Are? Live event, held on the 24th-26th February at the London Olympia. We answered questions about records and archives, distributed information on our short courses and Masters degrees in Family and Local History by online distance learning and signed up a record number of new students to our Master’s degree in Family and Local History and Beyond the Internet, our short courses for family historians.

4. Oral History Project

Archive Services are progressing the Oral History Project, which aims to capture the experiences of individuals connected to the University and the University archival collections. Recent interviews have included David Torrie (former editor of The Dandy), James Petrie and David Sutherland (DC Thompson artists), Alastair Ross (former Duncan of Jordanstone student and sculpture lecturer) and Ellena Salaryia (midwife and researcher).

5. New Archive Accessions and Accruals

New accessions to the archive include DVDs of short films and news items relating to Duncan of Jordanstone. Accruals to existing collections include Peter Haining and the Attic Archive, Publishing Scotland and Canongate. Further deposits have also been received for the Comics Collection, including 2000AD.

6. Archive Classes

Caroline spoke to students about the Archive collections during a lecture for the History Level 1 Britain in the 20th Century students. Classes have also been held in the Archives for students taking Red Scotland, the History of the Book, Britain in the 20th Century, Reading 17th Century Scotland, Shakespeare, and Scottish Soldier. All subject areas are welcome to use the archival collections for teaching and research support. Further information is available from Caroline at c.z.brown@dundee.ac.uk.

7. Disaster Planning

Jennifer, Caroline and Matthew are updating the departmental Disaster Plan. Training will be held for all staff on 26 April.

8. Forthcoming publication: Article in Comma

Alan has recently completed an article examining the nature of standards and standardisation for a forthcoming issue of Comma, the journal of the International Council on Archives.

9. JISC Research Project on FoI

Records Management Services have contributed to a JISC research project which is attempting to establish the true cost of compliance with the Freedom of Information Acts. Five recent requests to the University were tracked in detail to assess the amount of time needed to process them, to locate and retrieve relevant information and to write and send appropriate responses to the applicants.

10. The Michael Peto Photographic Collection Project

The Michael Peto Photographic Collection Project promotion has included a meeting with our Patron, Rector, Brian Cox, to discuss strategies for fundraising and external activities, the production of a fundraising and promotional prospectus and meetings with galleries and curators in the UK and the US.

Discontent, War & the Impact of Revolution in Dundee

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:50:00 +0000

Caroline has recently been teaching a class of Level 4 History students taking the module Discontent, War & the Impact of Revolution: Scotland 1910-1922. The subjects covered included industrial unrest, the growth of socialism, the impact of the Great War and the decline of the Liberal Party all of which are very well documented in the University archives.

The 'sane and high class journalism' of the
Toscin is commended by Keir Hardie

Dundee was an important centre of political and social change in Scotland in this era. In 1906 Dundee elected Alexander Wilkie as one of Scotland’s first two Labour MPs. Other key figures on the left of Scottish politics were also based in Dundee including Edwin Scrymgeour, the socialist prohibitionist who was a councillor in the city and eventually one of its MPs, and Bob Stewart, another councillor who went on to be a key figure in the early days of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Also active in the labour movement before 1914 was the journalist, cartoonist and future war poet Joseph Lee who produced a Labour periodical called the Tocsin, which is held in the University archives along with letters of praise from key figures including Keir Hardie and Arthur Henderson.

The decline of the Liberal Party was very evident in Dundee; Wilkie’s victory in 1906 was a blow to the party, but not completely fatal. In 1908 the Liberal Winston Churchill, who had recently lost his seat in Manchester, was fairly comfortably elected at a by-election in the city and was returned with Wilkie in the next three general elections. However by 1922 Churchill was in trouble. The Liberal Party in Dundee, as in many parts of Britain, was split leading to an independent Liberal challenging Churchill and his running-mate D. J. MacDonald. He was also bitterly attacked by the other three candidates – the communist Willie Gallacher, Labour’s E. D. Morel and Scrymgeour – who, like many on the left, felt Churchill and the Liberals had failed the working classes.

The Tocsin's view of Churchill's attitude
to women

D. C. Thomson, owner of the local newspapers, turned against Churchill leading to both the Liberal Dundee Advertiser and the Tory Courier advising their readers to reject him. Additionally, with the city now having a large female electorate, his previous hostility to the female suffrage campaign cost him support. All of this added up to a spectacular and embarrassing defeat for Churchill, who finished a poor fourth as Scrymgeour and Morel romped to victory.

The University archives have several collections relating to this important period in history including: Joseph Lee’s Papers (MS 88), the Dundee Power Loom Tenters Society Minute Book (MS 65), the Papers of D. J. MacDonald (MS 93) and the Joan Auld Memorial Collection which contains an extensive collection of books written by and about some of the key figures of this era.

If you are interested in looking at any of these collections we are based in the main University Tower Building and open to the public. See our opening hours at www.dundee.ac.uk/archives.

Kenneth Baxter

Where do you think we are?

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:01:00 +0000

If you're thinking of coming to Who Do You Think You Are? Live this year, you'll find us at stand 917. The show is at Olympia London, 24-26 February, and you can find more information about the show here. For more information about our short courses and Masters degrees in family and local history please see our website, email us at ARMTraining@dundee.ac.uk, or call us on +44 (0)1382 385543.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:05:00 +0000

As things get back to normal after the festivities our thoughts are turning towards the annual Who Do You Think You Are? Live event, to be held in February at the London Olympia. CAIS will once again be represented at the show and as usual we're looking forward to meeting some of our students and other attendees on the show floor. We'll be answering questions about records and archives and distributing information on our short courses and Masters degrees in Family and Local History by online distance learning.

Over the next few weeks you should start to see some of our new advertising popping up in various publications. This one was finished earlier today and should appear next month - let us know if you spot it anywhere.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:27:00 +0000

As we return to the office this morning, we'd like to take the chance to wish everyone 'all the best' for 2012. As always, we'll be posting news and items of interest here throughout the year so remember to stop by from time to time.

Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:54:00 +0000

We'd like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and safe and prosperous New Year.

Best wishes from everyone in ARMMS and CAIS at the University of Dundee.

Stuck for a Christmas present?

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:30:00 +0000

An early view of G.L. Wilson

If you can't think what to buy a loved one for Christmas you might like to take inspiration from the archives of G.L. Wilson department store. The store, popularly know as 'The Corner' because of its position on the corner of Murraygate and Commercial Street, Dundee, was founded in 1894 and rapidly became a Dundee institution.

The 1959 Santa Club

The store was well know for its imaginative Christmas displays and shows, and its annual procession with Santa Claus drew large crowds onto the streets of Dundee.

As well as business records the archives contain many catalogues advertising the store's products and sales.

Crowds view the Santa procession 1950s

The Christmas catalogues contain a wealth of ideas for exciting gifts for Christmas. Click on the link below for 'Smart Christmas Aprons' for the special lady in your life; 'Useful Gifts for Men and Boys' ('Every Many needs Ties'); 'Intimate Gifts for Girl Friends'; some familiar 'Xmas Books'; and, for a peaceful Christmas, 'Let Your Children Fight their Country's Battles over again'.
Click here for your Christmas gift guide.

Student protests at Dundee

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:19:00 +0000

This 1968 photograph shows students staging a twenty-four hour work-in at the University of Dundee. Second from the left is George Robertson, now Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, who organised the protest.

Student work-in, 1968

Robertson graduated from Dundee in 1968 with a degree in Economics from the newly formed University. At that time students could choose either to take a St Andrews or a Dundee degree and Robertson was one of the minority of students to opt for the latter. Robertson was an active member of the University and a founding contributor of, and regular columnist for, the student newspaper Annasach. The newspaper, which was more political than its modern day equivalent, provided Robertson with some valuable journalistic and campaigning experience. He continued to take an active role in student protests, for example invading the pitch when a rugby team from the Orange Free State played at St Andrews. Robertson went on to become a Labour MP, Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary General of NATO. The issues of Annasach to which he contributed can be consulted in the University Archives (RU 357/1).

Celebrating CAIS Graduates

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:49:00 +0000

Congratulations to all 21 students from the Centre for Archive and Information Studies students who graduated on Wednesday 16th November. The University of Dundee held a special Winter Graduation ceremony for the first time this year and several of our students took the opportunity to attend.

CAIS graduates outside Caird Hall, Dundee

Very well done also to Durham Burt, the third CAIS Trainee, who graduated with an MLitt Archives and Records Management with distinction.

Durham Burt, CAIS Trainee

Students qualified with the following degrees:

Postgraduate Certificate in Archival Studies
Postgraduate Certificate in Digital Recordkeeping
Postgraduate Certificate in Family and Local History
Postgraduate Diploma in Archives and Records Management
Masters of Letters / Science in Archives and Records Management
Master of Science in Record Management and Digital Preservation

Caird Hall, Dundee

CAIS is still accepting applications for the 21 online courses it is offering in January covering family history, archives and / or records management, information compliance and digital preservation. Courses last from six to 15 weeks, are tutored by experts and are delivered fully online. Applications for Masters degrees in these subjects are welcomed and we accept applicants from the UK and overseas. For more information see www.dundee.ac.uk/cais or contact armtraining@dundee.ac.uk

World War Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:59:00 +0000

To commemorate Remembrance Day Archive Services have mounted a small exhibition of material relating to the World Wars. The focus is partly on men and women who served in the British and French Red Cross, some of the 'unsung heroes' of the wars.

James Blackburn Wilson (1888-1961) served in France with the ambulance service, he survived the war and returned to Alva to the family woollen manufacturing business. The exhibition includes photographs of Wilson tending wounded soldiers and letters to his parents.

Other material in the exhibition includes papers from the collection of Margot Cox (1905-1983) who served with the British Red Cross in Italy during the Second World War and was awarded a medal for distinguished war service. There is also a fascinating sketch and poetry book created by soldier patients at Monifieth Red Cross Hospital during the First World War.

Archive Services holds many collections relating to hospitals in the area. The exhibition features material from the Bridge of Earn Hospital which was built by the Emergency Medical Service to treat war casualties. The papers include Department of Health information leaflets advising on what to do in the case of enemy attack and treating war wounds with penicillin.

Also on display are items from the Joseph Lee archive. Lee (1876-1949) was a journalist from Dundee who served in the First World War. He was an early war poet, who wrote about his experiences in the trenches and was published in the UK and overseas. He was captured and became a prisoner of war and the exhibition shows pages from the diaries that he wrote while in captivity.

The exhibition is on display outside the Archive Services’ searchroom and for more information please contact archives@dundee.ac.uk.

Jennifer Johnstone, Archive Services

University Culture Day

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:55:00 +0000

PLACE, SPACE AND TIME

On Wednesday 9th November the University of Dundee's Culture & Arts Forum presents the seventh annual Culture Day, featuring a variety of fascinating talks and presentations, this year on the theme of Place, Space & Time.

Our speakers this year cover art, literature, history, geography, biology, astronomy, music and much more - all exploring the same overall theme. The event takes place in Baxter Conference Room 1.36 on the first floor of the Tower Building, starting at 1.30pm. The full programme is below, admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend. There's no need to book - just come along to some or all of the day.

1.30 pm:
Matthew Jarron (Museum Services)
Welcome

1.40 pm:
Susan Mains (Geography)
Moving Image, Moving Place: Islands, Identities and Space-Time Emotions
This presentation will explore the ways in which media images of islands - particularly in the Caribbean - offer an important entryway into new understandings of how we represent emotions, space, and time

Alasdair Hood (Botanic Garden)

“A Rich Harvest of Most Beautiful Plants": A World Tour in the Botanic Garden

The University’s Botanic Garden turned 40 this year. It was ahead of its time in being laid out on geographical lines. Come on a tour of the world's plants and explore our own British flora.

Brian Kelly (Continuing Education / Dundee Heritage Trust)

A Journey in Space and Time

Find out our real place in the cosmos as we voyage from Dundee to the most distant objects in the known Universe

Philip Braham (Fine Art)

Suicide Notes: From private pilgrimage to public outrage

The artist will discuss his contentious photographic series 'Suicide Notes' that met with moral condemnation in the press, but won the Royal Scottish Academy Morton Award in 2009.

2.40 pm Refreshments

3.05 pm:

Graeme Stevenson (Music)

Space in Music

A look at music that was composed with the position of the audience or the performers as a key feature of the work

Keith Williams (English)

“I have always been given to paradoxes about space and time”

A talk exploring the place of new media in the fiction of HG Wells

Charles McKean (History)

Space and Time - a Revolutionary Theory

Revolutions require the right time, the right circumstances and above all the right place. Do they occur in the countryside? Rarely. For the last 500 years, authorities have been aware of this and designed against it. Yet in 1989 and again today, squares and plazas were crucial to dramatic political change.

Keith Skene (Continuing Education / Biosphere Research Institute)

Of Progress and the Golden Age: finding a place called home

The conservation movement and the Enlightenment had very different visions of where we belonged. We will examine these two schools of thought, exploring the repercussions for us today.

4.05 pm: Refreshments

4.30pm:

Kenneth Baxter (Archive Services)

Time Travel without a TARDIS: Using archives to discover changing places and spaces in Dundee through time

This talk will show how material held by the University's Archive Services can be used to illustrate and understand how Dundee has changed in the past two centuries – its spaces and the people who inhabited them

Neil Paterson (Botanic Garden)

Deep Time and Broad Spaces: Space and Time in Darwin's Theory of Evolution
The strongest evidence for the fact of evolution comes from the distribution of species in space across the globe and Natural Selection demands vast expanses of time to do its work.

Brian Hoyle (English)
Cinema, Time and Space
Through an examination of works by a range of directors this talk will examine cinema's unique ability to manipulate time and space. By combining cinematic techniques with the viewer's imagination, filmmakers are able to extend, compress and elide time; eradicate the distance between locations; and present vastly different spaces to the viewer

Phil Vaughan (Graphic Design)
Comics: 3D space to 2D time
Exploring the technique of using 3D software to digitally create 2D comic art...

5.30: End

Plans for a Botanic Garden in Dundee

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:47:00 +0000

2011 is the year in which the University celebrates the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Botanic Gardens and Archive Services has a number of collections which relate to the establishment and management of the gardens. The archives show that idea of creating a botanic teaching garden dates back as far as the early twentieth century. (Sir) Patrick Geddes, Professor of Botany at University College, Dundee from 1889 to 1920, was a keen advocate of such an idea.

The Geddes Quadrangle c 1960s

The garden in what is now known as the Geddes Quadrangle was laid out according to an elaborate plan by Geddes to serve an educational function. Geddes designed the garden so that the specimens planted in each bed were from the same scientific group and the beds demonstrated the evolution of that group. He also took a keen interest in the layout of the rest of the College grounds.

In 1906 it was reported that Geddes had proposed a scheme to create a large botanic garden running from the Perth Road to the edge of the Caledonian Railway at Magdalen Green, covering the site of Clarendon Park Nursery and extending eastwards. In 1909, following the failure of a scheme by the late Bailie Mathers to erect a winter garden at Baxter Park, Geddes contacted the Town Council to propose his own winter garden or botanic garden arguing that he had support from members of the community. He also requested that the University College Council appoint a sub-committee of its members to consider the proposal. However, the College Council opted not to pursue this matter, much to Geddes' regret.

Geddes did no teaching at the University after 1914, but his legacy lived on. As this document from 1929 shows the garden at the front of the College was carefully planned and maintained and showcased a number of species of tree. Proposals for a permanent botanic garden remerged in the 1960s and, with the encouragement of Principal James Drever, the current gardens were established in 1971.

Plan for garden in front of what is now the Tower Building, 1929

Visit of the Polish National Digital Archives

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:36:00 +0000

On Friday 14^th October ARMMS had a visit from Sebastian Zduńczyk, Artur Łysik, Arkadiusz Świątek and Andrzej Kochaniak of the Polish National Digital Archives - Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (NAC) – who gave a presentation about the their organisation. The NAC is one of the three main sections of the Central State Archive in Poland and is located in Warsaw.

Although an ‘Archives of Audio-Visual Records’ had existed in Poland since 1955, it was not until 2008 that it was transformed into the National Digital Archives as a response to the emergence and growth of information technologies. Its main activities are to preserve digital and non-digital photographs, film and audio recordings, and to create digital versions of non-digital archival material for sharing online. At the beginning of 2011 the archive held 30 terabytes of data. Although the NAC is part of the Central State Archive many of these collections are from external organisations.

A large part of this process involves scanning microfilm and each year; between one and a half and two million frames are scanned using state of the art equipment. The NAC also scans photographs and documents, either from its own collections or sent by external organisations. As well as being digitised these items are microfilmed as part of an overall preservation strategy and the NAC now holds some 72 million microfilm frames.

The NAC is also developing websites that permit public access to much of the digitised material and there are over 150,000 digital images on the Audiovis website. Another initiative is the development of a web interface – ZoSIA - that permits access to information about archival collections in the Central State Archive as well as regional State archives across the whole of Poland..

After the presentation the NAC team was given a tour of the University Archives. They were surprised to see photographs of a young Andrzej Wajda, the famous film director, taken by the Hungarian photographer Michael Peto, as well as other Peto photographs showing Warsaw’s immediate post-war restoration and development. These included an image of a part of Warsaw very near the NAC’s own building.

This insight into the work of the National Digital Archives was very interesting and enlightening and we were particularly impressed by the scope and scale of the organisation’s work.

Age of Revolution in the Archives

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:39:00 +0000

Over the next two weeks over 270 level one students undertaking the Age of Revolution module on the University’s History Programme will be carrying out a source based exercise which uses material from our collections relating to Dundee in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including maps, a hospital report and an extract from a Dundee Directory. This assessment encourages students to think about primary sources as well as some of the broader issues relating to the impact the industrial revolution had on Dundee, Scotland and the rest of Britain. In previous years many students undertaking this and similar exercises have come to the archives to enhance their work by making use of the many other sources we have relating to life in Dundee at this time, and we anticipate many of this year’s cohort will visit us over the next fortnight. Some of the collections consulted in the past include:

MS 11 Baxter Brothers & Co Ltd. The Baxters operated one of Dundee's major textile works. Their extensive archives include many records relating to the business as well as an account of the early days of flax spinning in Dundee written by Charles Mackie, 'an old mill manager'.

MS 17/P The Thornton Collection of Manuscripts and Plans This collection includes material relating to the coming of the railways to Dundee as well as several plans of Dundee and its buildings

MS 102 The Peter Carmichael of Arthurstone Collection. There are many fascinating items to be found in the papers of one of Scotland’s great factory managers and engineers including photographs of Dundee in the nineteenth century, personal correspondence and an excellent autobiographical account of life and trade in the city.

MS 134 Working Class Life in Dundee for Twenty Five Years, 1878-1903 This study by Dr David Lennox includes much material relating to the late eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century as background to its arguments on the main period it covers.

THB 1 The Dundee Royal Infirmary Collection has a wide range of useful information on life in Dundee at this time including reports of the work of the hospital and disease in Dundee, patient admission registers and directors minutes

KLoc The Kinnear Local Book Collection has a number of rare histories of Dundee as well as publications produced in this period such as the Dundee Directories, and the Rev. George Lewis's A course of lectures on the physical, educational and moral statistics of Dundee delivered in the Watt Institution Hall in December 1840

The archives also have many other collections which contain material relevant to students of the Industrial Revolution as can be seen from our On-line Catalogue (http://134.36.1.31/) and our source lists and subject indexes (http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/sourcetop.htm). In addition we hold copies of most of a number of useful texts on the history of Dundee in the industrial period which are available for consultation in the search room. These include:

L. Miskell, C. Whatley & B. Harris (eds) Victorian Dundee Image and Realities (East Linton, 1999)
C. McKean, P. Whatley with K. Baxter Lost Dundee (Edinburgh, 2008)
D. Swinfen, A. Smith and C. Whatley The Life and Times of Dundee (Edinburgh, 1993)
C. McKean, Dundee: An Illustrated Architectural Introduction/Guide (Edinburgh, 1984 & 1993)
C. Mckean, C. Whatley and B Harris (Eds) Dundee 1500-1800 Renaissance Burgh to Enlightenment Town (Dundee, 2009)

Dr Kenneth Baxter

Chessor Lillie Matthew

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:02:00 +0000

Born in 1914, Chessor Lillie Matthew studied art, design and architecture at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen. He then moved to Wales where was senior assistant at the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff College of Technology. In 1958 he was appointed Head of the School of Architecture at Dundee College of Art in succession to John Needham. Matthew clearly made an impression in this role, for just six years later, at the age of 51 he succeeded, H. Adam Crawford as Principal of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (as Dundee School of Art was by then known). He would hold this post until his retirement in 1978.

Principal Matthew's time in office coincided with a key period in Duncan of Jordanstone's history, when it ended its relationship with Dundee Institute of Art and Technology. Throughout its history the Art College had been a part of what was originally known as the Technical Institute, but by the middle of the twentieth century the College of Technology and the Art College had become virtually separate institutions. By the 1960s the relationship was being questioned with some suggesting closer integration of the two colleges into a polytechnic, an idea not welcomed by the Art College.

Following a review by Sir Charles Wilson it was Matthew's stance which prevailed and Duncan of Jordanstone finally became an independent college in 1975 with Matthew at its head. During the same period Principal Matthew oversaw closer co-operation between Duncan of Jordanstone and the recently established University of Dundee. In a groundbreaking move in 1974 a joint Faculty of Environmental Studies was set up which included departments from both institutions. The ultimate outcome of this process of co-operation was the merger of the Duncan of Jordanstone and the University in 1994.

Matthew’s period in office also saw the College introduce new courses, attract greater numbers of students, and expand the College library. His work as Principal and the contribution he made was praised by his successor Myer Lacome who noted that the College had been left in 'a very healthy state'.

Principal Matthew was a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and an Associate Member of the Town Planning Institute. A lasting legacy of his time at Duncan of Jordanstone is the Matthew Building, erected during his Principalship and named in his honour. More about Chessor Matthew can be found in the records of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, which are held by Archive Services.

Dr Kenneth Baxter

CAIS Study School, September 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:11:00 +0000

September is always an exiting time for us as we upload new and updated course materials to the University's Virtual Learning Environment and prepare for the new semester. The high point in our preparations is the arrival of a new intake of students in Dundee for their pre-course Study School. It's a chance for new students to meet each other and the CAIS staff and tutors, find out how to use the University's online learning systems and to think about the professional issues facing recordkeepers and the theoretical basis for what we do. We really look forward to the Study School and we're excited about the sessions we have planned for the students this year. Everything starts this afternoon and we'll post updates on our discussions as the week unfolds.

Alan Bell and Sarah Wickham, University of Huddersfield and
CAIS Tutor, leading a session on Records Management, September 2010

Notable University Figures (3): Professor Margaret Fairlie

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:31:00 +0000

The story of university education in Dundee has featured many notable women including Mary Ann Baxter, the founder of University College, and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who was the first Chancellor of the University of Dundee. Thus it is perhaps not surprising that Scotland's first female professor, the talented Margaret Fairlie, was appointed in Dundee.

Margaret Fairlie was born in Angus in 1891 and grew up at West Balmirmer Farm near Arbroath. In 1910 she matriculated at University College, Dundee to study at the Conjoint Medical School, marking the start of an association that would last most of the rest of her life. After graduating in 1915, she held various posts in Dundee, Perth, Edinburgh and Manchester, before returning to Dundee in 1919 to run a consultant practice for gynaecology, and started teaching at the Medical School the following year. In the mid 1920s Fairlie joined the staff of Dundee Royal Infirmary becoming head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1936. This appointment displeased at least one male colleague who felt he should have been appointed to the job. Famed for her hard work she was also honorary gynaecologist to Arbroath, Brechin, Montrose and Forfar infirmaries and attended cases throughout Angus and Perthshire

This promotion should have led to a speedy appointment as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, but moves to appoint her to this position were blocked by the University of St Andrews Court – partly due to on-going conflict between elements at St Andrews and Dundee and partly because of opposition to appointing a female professor. With the Directors of Dundee Royal Infirmary standing behind Fairlie and opinion in Dundee largely supportive of her, four years of impasse followed until the University Court finally granted her a chair in 1940. A popular figure with staff and students, she was noted for her warm hospitality. She retired in 1956, but retained a close connection with both the University and DRI.

In addition to her academic work she was involved in practical medicine delivering many babies and she once suggested that if they were laid out in a line they would stretch from Dundee to beyond Perth. Her work as a doctor also helped reduce Dundee's notoriously high infant mortality rate, and she was involved in the establishment of Dundee’s first ante-natal clinic. Following a visit to the Marie Curie Foundation in Paris in 1926 Fairlie developed a keen interest in the clinical use of radium. Thereafter she became a pioneer in its use in Scotland, employing it in the treatment of malignant gynaecological diseases. She also organised a follow up clinic for the patients she treated with radium, seeing some of them over the twenty years at the clinic she held at Dundee Royal Infirmary. She was much mourned in Dundee on her death in 1963 and was the subject of a number of glowing tributes.

Details of Margaret Fairlie’s extraordinary life and work can be found in a number of our collections including the records of Dundee Royal Infirmary (THB 1) and the University Staff Biographical Collection (UR_SF 1). The old professorial board with Fairlie's name engraved on it (which once stood in the Medical School) is now on permanent display in the corridor beside the Archives.

Dr Kenneth Baxter

Notable University Figures (2): Professor Walter E. Spear

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:43:00 +0000

In the second in our series looking at important figures in the University’s past we turn our attention to Walter Spear, one of the most distinguished physicists to have worked at the University of Dundee, and a man whose research made a major contribution to our everyday lives.

Born in Germany in 1921, Walter. E. Spear came to the UK just before the Second World War. After studying at the University of London he joined the University of Leicester, where he first met a student named Peter LeComber whose career would become intertwined with Spear’s own. In 1969 the two joined the staff of the University of Dundee where they would become famed for their research into the properties of amorphous silicon. The work of Spear and LeComber and their research team attracted much interest from companies and groups who saw that it had huge scientific and commercial potential. The research carried out in Dundee led to the creation of the amorphous film silicon transistor. This innovation directly led to LCD technology and the eventual development of solar panels and flat screen TVs. Spear’s work was recognised with a number of prestigious awards including the European Physical Society Europhysics prize (1976) and the Max Born Medal and Prize for Physics (1977).

Spear retired in 1988, and after the sudden death of Peter LeComber in 1992, effectively ended his active research career. Spear himself passed away at the age of 87 in 2008.

Walter Spear’s papers are held by Archive Services (UR-SF 57). They include articles written by Spear and notes for some of his talks and public lectures. The papers also include an unusual collection of letters sent to Spear some of which were sent by members of the public seeking support for their unorthodox scientific theories.

Planned obsolescence

noreply@blogger.com (Alan Bell) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:34:00 +0000

Apple's decision earlier this week to ship a desktop computer without an optical drive prompted Alan to wonder on his personal blog whether this is a sign that CDs and DVDs are reaching the end of their useful life as media for digital information:

The launch of a [new] desktop Mac without an optical drive...put me in mind of the launch of the original iMac in the late 1990s and the paradigm shift in computing which that machine signaled. Back then, Apple were the first to identify that the floppy disk was obsolete; slow, unreliable and lacking the capacity needed for contemporary computing. The iMac was designed from the outset for networked environments and the internet. The rhetorical question Apple asked was 'why would you need a floppy drive if you have email?'.

[Now] in 2011 [we have] the strongest signal to date that optical media is becoming (in computing terms at least) moribund...Software and data are distributed via networks or the cloud and on those increasingly rare occasions where you have no network connection, portable flash storage is cheap and ubiquitous.

[The move away from optical media seems to mark a notable change in the storage and transfer of digital information and will have real implications for recordkeepers]. It's not that long ago that high-quality optical media was being recommended as a good 'vault' for digital information...Similarly, [we are] approaching a situation where we have to keep an optical drive around which can be plugged into a more modern machine to resurrect the only known copy of some important file, in the same way as we've had to keep floppy drives around for some years now...[Does] Apple's decision to ship a desktop computer without an optical drive point to impending obsolescence in the same way that the iMac's lack of a floppy drive did 13 years ago?

Chris Foresman, writing for Ars Technica, has answered that question, at least as far as Apple is concerned:

Apple has drawn the line in the sand: optical discs are out, and digital distribution is the future...

It is important to remember that Apple is only one company and lots of other manufacturers will continue to include optical drives with their PCs. However, Apple has in the past offered a strong indication of the direction of travel in technology and that is why their decision to move away from optical media is so interesting.