Archives, Records and Artefacts

We've moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 15:51:00 +0000

We're suspending the use of this blog and moving our activities over to the news section of our (relatively) new website - http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/news/. We're leaving this site up as there are lots of interesting stories and items about our collections here, but please use the link above if you want to keep up with us from now on. As always, we'd love to hear your feedback on what we're doing so if you've any questions about us or our collections, please just drop us a line.

With best wishes from everyone in ARMMS and CAIS.

Memories, identities and communities - conference tweets

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 09:04:00 +0000

Our conference last week went incredibly well with a combination of fantastic papers and spirited discussion. Thanks to everyone who attended. We'll post more in due course, but here are the conference tweets to give you a flavour of the event:

Murthly Hospital 150 years old today.

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 13:09:00 +0000

Murthly Hospital (also know as the Perth District Asylum) was opened to patients on this day 150 years ago. The Asylum, which cost £30,000, was built to cater for 'lunatic paupers' and was Scotland's second district asylum. It was built following the 1857 Lunacy (Scotland) Act which had created district boards that could establish publicly funded asylums to provide care for people who could not afford the high fees charged by private asylums. Out of town locations were common for asylums at the time as it was believed that separation from the possible causes of anxiety, and fresh air, might help patients recover. Murthly, however, was fairly remote (see its position here), but access was made easier by the fact that the Highland Railway ran nearby. In 1894 the hospital built villas within its grounds as part of a pioneering attempt to provide accommodation for patients based on the colony or village system.

The hospital closed completely in 1984 and has now been demolished. Archive Services hold its records (THB 30) as part of the NHS Tayside Archive. These include patient records dating back to its opening, records relating to staff and various reports. The records are available for consultation, although all clinical records are subject to a 100 year closure period. For more information contact archives@dundee.ac.uk or visit www.dundee.ac.uk/archives

Are you ready?

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 08:50:00 +0000

We thought this was interesting so we’re cross-posting it from Alan’s personal blog.

socially awkward

One of the headings on the front cover of the latest issue of ARC, the magazine of the Archives and Records Association, asks ‘Are you ready for Skype…?’. I found that frustrating, as did some of my colleagues.

Asking that in 2014 makes recordkeeping (and recordkeepers) look out of touch and disengaged. The lazy metaphors - dust, parchment, basements, cardigans etc - are hard enough to shake without the magazines of our professional bodies reinforcing them, however inadvertently. ARC should be a tool for advocacy as well as a way of keeping up with news and other developments across the profession.

Social media isn't the coming thing. We've had fifteen years of blogging. Twitter has been around since 2006. Facebook moved off university and high school campuses and opened up to everyone in that year too. Kate Theimer and Steve Bailey began writing about Archives 2.0 and Records Management 2.0 in 2007.

Skype launched in 2003.

Surely we've moved beyond asking people whether 'they're ready'? Platforms change. The desire of people to create and communicate doesn't. If you have the means to get online, the use of this technology isn't exceptional. It's ordinary. It's routine. It's normal.

I'm not downplaying the challenge of social media. The difficulty of securing organisational and personal memories in such volatile environments is clear. But so is the relevance of recordkeeping principles to that process. Isn’t that the message we want to communicate?

Age of Revolution in the Archives

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 17:13:00 +0000

Over 150 level one students undertaking the University’s history module Age of Revolution are currently carrying out a source based exercise which uses material from our collections relating to Dundee in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The sources used include four of our maps, an unpublished history, and extracts from a Dundee Directory. This assessment encourages students to think about issues surrounding primary sources as well as some of the broader issues relating to the impact that the industrial revolution had on Dundee, Scotland and the rest of Britain.

Crawford's plan of Dundee 1776

Students undertaking this and similar exercises for history and other subject areas, including town planning, often make use of the many other sources we have relating to life in Dundee at this time. We anticipate many of this year's history cohort will visit us over the next fortnight. Some of the collections consulted in the past by students taking this module include:

Photograph from the Carmichael Collection 1870s

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 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 in Dundee.

Page from Dundee Infirmary's admission records 1853

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 on 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 and the same author's The State of St David's Parish; with remarks on the Moral and Physical Statistics of Dundee (1841)

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://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/thecollections/searchourcatalogue/) and our source lists and subject indexes (http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/thecollections/subjectsandtopics/).

Page from a Dundee Directory

In addition we hold copies of a number of useful texts on the history of Dundee in the industrial period, many of which are available for consultation in the search room. These include:

L. Miskell, C. Whatley & B. Harris (eds) Victorian Dundee Image and Realities 2nd Edition (Dundee, 2011)
C. McKean, P. Whatley with K. Baxter Lost Dundee (Edinburgh, 2008 & 2013)
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)

If you would like to consult the archives we are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9-1 and 2-5. It is best to email us to make an appointment on archives@dundee.ac.uk or telephone 01382 384095.

Dr Kenneth Baxter

Valentine's Day in the Archive

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 09:36:00 +0000

...ages seem to have passed since I last went to sleep with your head on my shoulder and you clasped in my arms and I can hardly wait for your comforting presence, oh! Only to hold you in my arms again!

Extract taken from letter by Burt S Paton writing to his wife Helen in 1939 when she was in Bridge of Earn Hospital. Ref: Ref: MS 141/1/6/5.

This and other love letters, poems, literature and pictures can be seen in the Archive's new display that celebrates love, romance and marriage. You can find it in the basement of the University of Dundee's Tower Building.

Heading into 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 14:51:00 +0000

The New Year of 2014 is well on its way now, heralded by weather so miserable that you could almost wish for snow. In the Archive, we’ve been keeping dry and cosy, dealing with visitors wishing to look at a range of material, including textile records, First World War letters, architectural plans and University records.

We’ve also been working with some recent accessions to the collections, some of which came in just before Christmas. One accession is material generated by the Episcopalian Diocese of Brechin that includes some newly discovered letters to Bishop Forbes. We’ve recruited some new volunteers, and one of them will be working through the scrawl of 19^th century handwriting so that they can be properly described and added to the BrMS collection.

The work of the volunteers is much appreciated by Archive staff who come in regularly and create basic lists of collections. At the moment, volunteers are working on our growing collections of comics, a mountaineering club collection, Dundee Rep Theatre posters and programmes and the Kerr Anderson papers.

Finally, if you follow us on twitter you may have seen the Alex Coupar photographs that we’ve been featuring (twitter.com/UoD_Archives). Alex is a renowned photographer from Dundee, whose work ranges from street-scenes and views to candid portraiture and press shots. We’re incredibly lucky to have his collection here in the Archive, and we’re seeking funding so that we can bring Alex’s work to a wider public. So, watch this space…

Dr Jan Merchant

Happy Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 12:51:00 +0000

We'd like to wish everyone connected with ARMMS and CAIS a very happy Christmas and a safe and prosperous 2014.

Caroline's new book

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 08:51:00 +0000

We're really pleased to see Caroline's new edited volume for Facet in print. The book, Archives and Recordkeeping: Theory into practice, 'explores key [recordkeeping] literature and concepts and the role they can play in practice'. It contains fascinating contributions from a range of authors on key topics, including one by Alan on the challenge to professional ideas created by changes in technology. There's more information about the book on the publisher's website.

Congratulations to CAIS students

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 09:09:00 +0000

Graduation at CAIS. Last week was the November graduation ceremony for the School of Humanities at the University of Dundee. Twenty-four Centre for Archive and Information Studies students graduated with either a Certificate, Diploma or Masters and we'd like to send congratulations to all of them.

This picture shows Alison Smith who graduated from the Family History Programme, and Leanne Templeton and Carol Hollywood from the Archive and Records Management programme with family members and CAIS staff on a chilly Dundee morning. We were particularly impressed that Leanne and Carol had come all the way from Canada to receive their degrees.

Congratulations again to everyone who graduated from CAIS staff and tutors!

Archivist comes full circle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:51:00 +0000

We're pleased to welcome a new member of staff to ARMMS, or, in this case, welcome back a former member of the team. Dr Jan Merchant takes up her post as Senior Archivist today, having previously been the Assistant Archivist at Perth and Kinross Council Archive. However, prior to that post Jan worked with us in various roles, latterly as Project Archivist for the Drawn Evidence project of the early 2000s.

Jan has a PhD from the University of Dundee and was one of the first students to undertake CAIS' Archives and Records Management programme by online distance learning, graduating in 2006. She is a CAIS Hon Teaching Fellow and has taught the module 'Archive Services, Access and Preservation' and supervised dissertations.

We're delighted that Jan is rejoining ARMMS after her extended sojourn in Perth and look forward to benefiting from her knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.

Storify - online responses to the 'Burden or Benefit?' conference

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 11:39:00 +0000

We've tried to capture some of the responses to yesterday's conference using Storify. If you weren't able to make it to Dundee you can get a flavour of how the day unfolded and some of the issues discussed here:

View the story "Burden or Benefit? New developments in information rights, communication and compliance" on Storify

Burden or Benefit? New developments in information rights, communication and compliance

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 11:08:00 +0000

CAIS' latest conference, organised jointly with the Centre for Freedom of Information in the University's School of Law, took place yesterday and was a great success.

The attendees heard presentations from three information commissioners, a former information commissioner, the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, a Caldicott Guardian, an expert in the use of social technologies in business and a University Records Manager.

All the speakers were keen to engage with the themes of the conference and explore the tensions between developing information rights law, the need for openness and accountability, the protection of individual privacy and the potential burdens and benefits for organisations trying to cope with these competing demands.

It was a fantastic day and we would like to extend our thanks to all our speakers, chairs, attendees and colleagues who helped make the day so enjoyable and valuable.

L-R Christopher Graham, UK Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, former Scottish Information Commissioner and Hon Prof, School of Law, Rosemary Agnew, Scottish Information Commissioner, Euan Semple, author and social business expert and Ken Macdonald, Assistant UK Information Commissioner (Scotland and NI)

Conference announcement - Benefit or burden? New developments in information rights, communication and compliance

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 10:54:00 +0000

We are delighted to announce a joint conference between CAIS and the University's Centre for Freedom of Information, to be held 4 October 2013. It will include, for the first time at the same event, contributions from Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, the Scottish Information Commissioner and Tim Ellis, Chief Executive, National Records of Scotland. Euan Semple, author of 'Organisations don't tweet - people do', will deliver a keynote on the changing relationship between organisations, people, information and communication.

The conference will explore the developments in the enforcement and extension of information legislation, the implications of new forms of communication for organisations and the role of records management in a changing regulatory and operational environment. This is an essential event for practitioners and researchers concerned with freedom of information, data protection and records and information management.

To download a copy of the programme and booking form please click here. An e-booking facility will be available from next week. Booking forms (including requests for invoices) can be posted to Mrs Vikki Watson, School of Law, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN or emailed to centrefoi@dundee.ac.uk. We will look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Dundee in October.

E-ARMMS 22 - April/May 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 08:14:00 +0000

The regular newsletter from Archive, Records Management and Museum Services (ARMMS) and the Centre for Archive and Information Studies (CAIS) at the University of Dundee.

In this edition:

Democratising or privileging: the future of access to archives
Peter Randall-Page sculpture
Grove Academy Visit
Dundee Redevelopment Photographs
New accessions
Tree of Liberty
Digital Doctor Day
Social Media
Records Management Unit Update
New Records Management Consignments
CAIS News
125 years of the Alliance Trust
Great War Anniversary
Basic Design Course
Fulbright Scotland Summer Institute 2013
Finnish Society-funded project: Archives as Sites of Memory

1. Democratising or privileging: the future of access to archives

Our ‘Democratising or privileging: the future of access to archives’ conference was staged in Dundee on 25^th and 26^th April. The event saw delegates from across the world gather to listen to a range of excellent papers from archivists, historians and archival users, which prompted some fascinating discussions. We were delighted with the positive feedback we received from attendees and are looking forward to our next conference in 2014.

2. Peter Randall-Page sculpture

The university is to have its first major piece of public sculpture as part of the Art Fund RENEW project that curator Matthew Jarron is leading to build a collection of art inspired by D'Arcy Thompson. To supplement the Art Fund grant, Matthew has succeeded in securing £15,000 from the National Fund for Acquisitions to complete the purchase of 'In the Beginning' by internationally renowned sculptor Peter Randall-Page. The piece will be sited in the link entrance between the Carnelley Building and the Old Medical School and should be installed in the near future.

3. Grove Academy Visit

Jennifer and Keren recently went to Grove Academy School to look at their archive material and advise them on how best to store the items. They had several interesting items including daily registers dating back to 1889, photographs and magazines produced by the pupils from the 1970's onwards. They took some conservation items with them including acid free paper and envelopes to give them an idea on how to store the materials. It was a really productive visit and hopefully a good first approach with a view to extending our outreach programme.

4.Dundee Redevelopment Photographs

With the redevelopment of Dundee’s waterfront well under way, Kenneth has continued to take photographs of the various on-going works in the area. This project has been in progress since last January and so far has focused on the work to remove Tayside House. By doing this, we will ensure that we have a photographic collection which documents the major changes to this area of the city. This will complement existing photographic collections which document the massive changes to Dundee in the late nineteenth century and in the 1960s.

5. New accessions

Archive Services continues to receive new material. The last few weeks have seen accessions of material relating to traditional songs, new items for the Michael Bolik Collection and University of Dundee prospectuses and other promotional material for prospective students. We anticipate that all of these items will be of interest to a number of readers.

6. Tree of Liberty

The competition for Interior & Environmental Design students to design a garden area around the new Tree of Liberty outside DJCAD has now finished and the students presented their design proposals to the judging panel. Matthew was one of the judges and was very impressed by the range and quality of the submissions. Four entries have been shortlisted and are now being considered by Estates & Buildings for practicability and affordability before the winning design is chosen and implemented.

7. Digital Doctor Day

On Wednesday 8th May, Jennifer attended a ‘Digital Doctor Day’ held by the Archives and Records Association at the National Records of Scotland. The short seminar looked at archival digitisation projects. Rob Mildren and Robin Urquhart started off by talking about how the NRS started digitisation in 1998-99 with the Scottish Archive Network which was originally more of an online exhibition that soon highlighted the fact that users wanted to see whole volumes scanned and made available online. Ashley Beamer, Web Projects Manager at RCAHMS, then spoke about a couple of digitisation projects she has been involved in; Britain from Above and Scotland’s Places. Next Robin showed us a sample volume and got us to think about the issues around scanning it for publication on a website. Finally we were shown round the Digital Imaging Unit by Paul Riley, the Index and Imaging Team Leader. This busy unit has some pretty high tech equipment which, as their leaflet states, ‘Since obtaining them in October 2009, they have enabled us to triple out output’.

8. Social Media

A number of photographs from Archive Services collections have recently appeared on the University’s Facebook page as part of its ‘throw back Thursday’. We are delighted to see the very positive response that there has been to these images and the interest they have generated. Our Twitter accounts also continue to attract new followers, with the @CAIS_archives account attracting a lot of attention during and after our recent Conference ‘Democratising or privileging: the future of access to archives’. In a new venture we also used Storify account to chronicle the extensive online coverage of the conference.

9. Records Management Unit Update

In the last E-ARMMS it was mentioned that Mhairi had received a very large request from Research Finance who were being audited by Cancer Research UK. Several more documents and various closed project files were subsequently asked for and the whole job has only just been completed (with all the records safely back in their appropriate boxes in three different locations) at the very end of April. More recently Mhairi had another request which was slightly out of the ordinary. Normally when a department needs to get hold of finance records it is processed through a section of Finance Office and Records Management does not deal directly with the University department. On this occasion, however, Records Management was asked directly by Estates & Buildings for copies of twelve invoices. This was managed speedily and the whole job completed within a day of the original request.

10. New Records Management Consignments

The Records Management Unit has received 27 boxes from a new customer, Population Health Sciences in the MRI. These have still to be fully processed but are accompanied by a full list with retention dates. There are seven boxes of student files from Humanities/Environmental Science and ten boxes from Disability Services. Mhairi is also currently boxing up files from both Accounts Payable and the Cash Office.

11. CAIS News

CAIS staff have been reading and editing a number of new and revised modules in preparation for the start of the May semester. These include Public History, authored and tutored by Caroline Shenton, Business Archives and Cataloguing in the Digital Age. CAIS has enrolled 39 new students for their postgraduate modules and Beyond the Internet short courses beginning on May 13th.

12. 125 years of the Alliance Trust

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the formation of the Alliance Trust, a Dundee based investment and financial services company, whose records are held by Archive Services. We are pleased that several of the key foundation documents have been used in events to mark the anniversary. The Alliance Trust itself was founded in 1888 but can trace its origins to the Oregon and Washington Trust Investment Co Ltd which was set up in Dundee to lend to pioneer farmers in the Pacific North West of the United States. The collection is fascinating as the history of the American West can be traced through the investments and financial deals recorded. In 1895, for example £75,000 was loaned against the 500,000 Acres Goodnight ranch, owned by Charles Goodnight, who is credited as having been the inspiration for the film ‘The Searchers’, starring John Wayne. The Trust’s history is full of pioneers, cowboys, ranches and oil and the Trust continues to hold mineral rights on land in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas & Saskatchewan in Canada. The collection is currently being fully listed but basic lists are available and researchers are welcome to use the records.

13. Great War Anniversary

Matthew and Caroline have been involved with plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War and have been working on a collaborative bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant to take the project forward. Part of the plans include the publication of a book of poetry by Joseph Lee. Combining the best of Lee’s war poems, the volume will celebrate the life of this remarkable Dundonian. Lee is well known for his journalism, often with a strongly political edge, and at the start of the twentieth century he edited a number of periodicals and newspapers. He enlisted in the Black Watch and his experiences as a soldier in France were depicted in the poems that he wrote from the trenches which were internationally acclaimed. Lee was captured in 1917 and became a prisoner of war and spent much of his time sketching and recording life in the camp. Archive and Museum Services hold his papers and sketches, including original manuscripts of poems, correspondence, and his war diaries.

14. Basic Design Course

Currently showing at Tate Britain is an exhibition about the Basic Design Course which was introduced by Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore in Newcastle in the 1950s and was subsequently adopted by numerous art schools around Britain. Many of the exercises on the course were based on D'Arcy Thompson's On Growth and Form, and Matthew recently met with the exhibition curators to discuss the D'Arcy connection and the proposed restaging of Richard Hamilton's Growth and Form exhibition at Tate next year.

15. Fulbright Scotland Summer Institute 2013

Pat has been busy organising the first Fulbright Scotland Summer Institute which the University of Dundee is hosting, in partnership with the University of Strathclyde. A full programme of lectures from a range of disciplines and cultural visits, including Glamis Castle, Culloden and Glencoe will culminate in a reception in Bute House, hosted by the First Minister, Alex Salmond. Nine undergraduates from the US will arrive on July 6 in Dundee for two and a half weeks, followed by the same time in Glasgow. They will act as ambassadors for the universities and for Scotland.

16. Finnish Society-funded project: Archives as Sites of Memory

Pat and Caroline recently attended a seminar in Helsinki where Pat gave a keynote presentation on ‘Community Memory and the Record: Remembering and Forgetting’ at The Society of Swedish Literature, Helsinki.

Ninewells Cancer Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:26:00 +0000

Archive Services has recently received the archive of the Ninewells Cancer Campaign, the charity that raises money to support the world-leading research taking place at Ninewells Hospital and the University Medical School. Over the last 20 years more than £17 million has been raised to improve the treatment and care of cancer patients and we are extremely pleased to be given the opportunity, through caring for the archives, to preserve evidence of the work of this important organisation.

Over the last two weeks the collection has been worked on by Nikki, a Skills for the Future Trainee, who has been with us as part of her traineeship. Under the guidance of the archivists she has been cataloguing and rehousing the material and has the following to say about her experiences.

'I'm Nikki and I am one of ten people taking part in a one year traineeship at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland in Edinburgh (RCAHMS). Our traineeship focuses primarily on cataloguing and re-housing the different collections at RCAHMS. This entails working with RCAHMS’ fascinating collections in the main store but does mean we don’t get out much! As a result, the traineeship incorporates placements into the programme and I have just come to the end of my two week placement within the University of Dundee archives.

I have been cataloguing an accession from the Ninewells Cancer Campaign. I have worked my way through 10 boxes of files to make detailed lists and uploaded the information onto the cataloguing software CALM. The collection includes letters of correspondence, brochures, reports, badges and newspaper articles relating to the many fundraising events hosted by the NCC for cancer research projects. I have also helped with a public enquiry and had a behind-the-scenes insight into the work of the archivists.

At the end of our placement we will share our experiences by producing a report and presentation on the skills we gained. I have really enjoyed my time here. I have met some fantastic and inspirational people and this experience has been great for developing my skills for further use in the heritage sector.'

We've very much enjoyed having Nikki with us and wish her well during the rest of her traineeship. We look forward to Nikki and the other trainees taking some of our modules on archive management and outreach and education in September.

For more information about the Ninewells Cancer Campaign collection contact archives@dundee.ac.uk.

Responses online to CAIS conference - Democratising or privileging: the future of access to archives

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:57:00 +0000

Was 57% of Dundee's population in 1847 Irish?

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:20:00 +0000

Volunteers at Archive Services are working on a project to index the admission registers of Dundee Royal Infirmary. Andrew Mackenzie, one of our volunteers, has been working on the register for 1847 and says:

‘The admissions register of Dundee Royal Infirmary from 1847 for the month of February reveals some valuable information about Dundee in this period. The most common illness was fever; out of 166 patients admitted between 1^st February 1847 and 28^th February 1847 there were 117 cases and of theses 15 patients died.

However, the register tells us more than just the illness of the patient, other information includes address, occupation, sex, age, nationality and county where born. The records therefore shed light on the demographic composition of Dundee in 1847. Out of the 166 patients admitted in February 68 were Scottish, 4 were English and 94 were Irish (57% Irish, 41% Scottish, 2% English). As might be expected of Dundee in this period 53 patients were weavers and 38 were millworkers. Other common occupations included 17 housewives and 16 labourers.’

By creating indexes for the registers the information will become more accessibly, particularly to family historians. Clearly assumptions cannot be made about Dundee's population as a whole from these figures but the range of information included in the registers, stretching over many years, warrants more sustained academic analysis and we would welcome further research on these archives.

For more information about these and the other medical records held by Archive Services visit www.dundee.ac.uk/archives or contact archives@dundee.ac.uk

Was Disaster Built into the First Tay Bridge?

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:55:00 +0000

We were delighted to receive a donation from William (Bill) Dow recently. The gift was a volume of Bill's research into the collapse of the Tay Rail Bridge which happened in December 1879 with the loss of over seventy lives. Bill Dow believes that vital information in the form of correspondence was not revealed to the original enquiry and his volume details this.

This is one of several gifts to the archives by Bill Dow who was principle lecturer in physics and head of science at Dundee College of Education, now part of the University. Bill is well known in Dundee for his extensive knowledge of local history as well as his enthusiasm for physics, stemming from his work on radar in the Second World War.

The University Archives have a number of items relating to the Tay Bridge disaster which can be consulted. For more information contact archives@dundee.ac.uk or visit our website and type Tay Bridge into our online catalogue.

Dewar 2013 Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:38:00 +0000

The latest conference organised by the Dewar Centenary Group will take place in April. Pat is involved in the work of this group which examines the enduring relevance of the 1912 Dewar report on medical care in the Highlands and Islands. For more information or to book a place please see www.rcgp.org.uk/courses-and-events/scotland/north-of-scotland-faculty/dewar-2013-conference-19-april-fort-william.aspx.

International Women's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:10:00 +0000

As it is International Women's Day we thought this would be a good opportunity to think about some of our records relating to women. Dundee has long had a reputation as 'a women's toun' and, although the extent of women's influence on the city's history is debated among historians, our collections demonstrate that women have played an important part, not least because of their leading role in the jute and flax industry. Our extensive jute collections include a number of excellent images of female workers from Dundee's mills in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Dundee jute factory

Another area where women have made a huge impact on the life of Dundee is at our own University. University College, Dundee was founded in 1881 with the financial backing of Mary Ann Baxter and her input was far more than purely financial. It was thanks to Miss Baxter that the College adopted a policy of no discrimination between the sexes, allowing female students access to all its courses. This meant the College attracted many bright female students who would go on to make a big impact on the world including the Dundee social reformer Mary Lily Walker and Ruth Wilson (later Young), who would have a successful career in medicine as well as carrying out notable welfare work in India and Ethiopia. Ruth Young's papers are now held by Archive Services.

Mary Lily Walker

Later the medical school at Dundee would produce Margaret Fairlie, an outstanding doctor and pioneer of the use of radium who also taught at the medical school. In 1940 she became Scotland's first female Professor and remains one of the outstanding figures in the University's history. When the University became independent in 1967 it broke further new ground as Scotland's first University to have a female Chancellor, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who did much to promote the institution. Other notable women to have played a part in shaping the University range from Joan Auld, the first University Archivist, to Elizabeth Macdonald (later Bryson), the first woman to graduate in medicine who wrote a memorable account of life at the medical school around 1900. The University records are full of details of these remarkable women and many others who have played a key part in the University's success.

Several of our other collections contain records of notable women including:

MS 25 Thomas Campbell - Includes copies of the correspondence of the actress Sarah Siddons

MS 103 Kinnear Collection - Includes material relating to the Dundee poet, writer and communist activist Mary Brooksbank

MS 100 Don and Low Collection - Includes items relating to Margaret Thatcher and Jennie Lee

MS 113 Papers regarding Clementina Stirling Graham - Correspondence of the author and friend of Lady Airlie

Margaret Fairlie

MS 220 Records concerning the life and adventures of Mary Eleanor Bowes - The Countess of Strathmore who's scandalous life partly inspired the novel Barry Lyndon by Thackeray

MS 270 Dundee Conservative and Unionist Association Collection - includes material relating to Florence Horsbrugh, a pioneering female MP (and the only woman to have represented Dundee at Westminster)

The Peto Collection - Includes photographs of many famous female figures including authors, politicians, actresses, musicians, sportswomen and ballerinas.

However, these are just the tip of a large iceberg. Throughout our collections can be found the stories of many women whose names are not particularly well known, but who led lives which were still important, including doctors, nurses, political activists, hospital patients, housewives, teachers and servants. Source lists, covering some of the material we hold relating to women can be found here: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/slwomentop.htm

Dr Kenneth Baxter

Archive of the Year award

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:48:00 +0000

Congratulations to our oral history tutor Craig Fees and his team at the Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre on winning the Your Family History's Archive of the Year Award. The Trust supports therapeutic approaches to the treatment of children and adults who have suffered emotionally and psychologically. We're very pleased that its work and the central role of PETT's archives and oral history projects have been recognised in this way. More information is on the PETT website.

Craig Fees is a tutor on our distance learning module Sound and Vision: Collecting, Preserving and Managing Film, Sound and Oral History and is the archivist and oral history expert at the Trust. The prize was presented to him at Who Do You Think You Are Live by another of our tutors, Dr Nick Barratt, who is the author and tutor of CAIS's House History module. The Centre for Archive and Information Studies (CAIS) had a stall at the WDYTYA Live show; it was lovely to meet up with former and current students and there was a lot of interest in our Family and Local History courses. Pat Whatley spoke at the show on the Scottish Poor Law and Caroline Brown on Scottish asylum records and we are planning a new module on welfare and health to be offered as a single module or part of our Certificate and Masters programme.

The CAIS stall at Who Do You Think You Are Live

For more information on our courses see www.dundee.ac.uk/cais or contact armtraining@dundee.ac.uk

E-ARMMS Newsletter 20

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:45:00 +0000

A monthly newsletter from Archive, Records Management and Museum Services (ARMMS) and the Centre for Archive and Information Studies (CAIS) at the University of Dundee.

In this edition:

NHS Tayside Records
D'Arcy Thompson Art Exhibitions
Great War Dundee
RCAHMS Skills for the Future Trainees
History of the Book Class
Oil Painting Catalogue
The Tree of Liberty
Archives in the News
Readers and Enquiries
CAIS news
The Scottish Higher Education Information Practitioners Group (SHEIP)
Death of Professor Caird
Records Management Unit Update
Records Management Requests
Retiral of Archive Services member of staff: Michael Bolik

1. NHS Tayside Records

The NHS Tayside Records (THB) have had to be temporarily relocated to allow maintenance work to be carried out in the archive repository. The move was coordinated by Jennifer, who has, with great efficiency, organised the packing, moving and reshelving of thousands of records in this collection, with assistance from other staff members and several of our volunteers. The records are still accessible to researchers, but until the work is completed advance notice is required, by email archives@dundee.ac.uk or telephone (01382 384095) before visiting the archives.

2. D'Arcy Thompson Art Exhibitions

Museum Services is currently showing the latest exhibitions tying into our Art Fund project to build a collection of art inspired by D'Arcy Thompson. Two shows in the Tower Building feature the work of four contemporary artists from London, Falmouth and Dundee. At the same time we have an exhibition in St Andrews of work acquired with the Art Fund grant so far, and as this has created some empty space in the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, we have invited the Master of Fine Art students from DJCAD to create a site-specific installation show in the museum. Details of all these exhibitions can be found at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/zoology/ Meanwhile we are also assisting with plans to turn the former Mickey Coyle's into a new themed bar called the D'Arcy Thompson - conveniently this will be the closest bar to the museum!

3. Great War Dundee

Matthew and Caroline are playing an active role in the city-wide Great War Dundee initiative, which aims to bring together all of Dundee's cultural organisations to commemorate the centenary of the First World War through a wide range of public activities. An HLF application is being prepared and our joint collaborative approach has been commended by the Imperial War Museum, who are using Dundee as a model of what can be achieved by a single city.

4. RCAHMS Skills for the Future Trainees

Caroline attended a presentation at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) by HLF funded Skills for the Future Trainees. Archive Services and CAIS have been involved in the year-long training programme: the archives hosted a two week placement for one of the trainees and all trainees completed modules with CAIS on Archive Management and Education and Outreach. We wish them all luck in their future careers.

5. History of the Book Class

Archive Services was visited by the level 4 History of the Book class run jointly by English and History. The class gives students a chance to see our famed Fifteenth Century illuminated 'Book of Hours'. The 'Book of Hours', also called a 'Missal', was written for use in the Diocese of Tournai in about 1450 and is part of the Brechin Diocesan Collection. The students have also taken the oppertunity to research the history of the Brechin Episcopal Church library for information about the provenance of the books that they are studying. It is an excellent example of the relationship between the University special collections and the manuscript collections held by Archive Services.

6. Oil Painting Catalogue

A significant achievement for Museum Services and the city as a whole was the publication in December of the Public Catalogue Foundation's fully illustrated catalogue of all oil paintings in public ownership in Dundee. The collections of Dundee City Council and the University of Dundee form the largest part of the catalogue but it also includes Dundee Heritage Trust, NHS Tayside, the University of Abertay and other smaller collections. The catalogue, which should greatly increase access to the city's art collections, is now on sale via the University's online shop, and all profits go directly towards conservation and development of our art collections.

7. The Tree of Liberty

Matthew is helping Interior & Environmental Design students with a project to plant a new Tree of Liberty. The original tree was planted in 1793 and eventually cut down in 1930 due to road widening. A new version was planted in 1986 near the original site (which by then had an art college next to it) but it failed to thrive and was removed last year when the new entrance for the Matthew Building was created. The students have been researching the history of the tree and will design a garden area outside DJCAD in which the new tree will be planted.

8. Archives in the News

On 16th January The Evening Telegraph and Post carried an feature, written by Kenneth, on the Dundee Textile Barons Sir William Ogilvy Dalgleish and Edward Cox who died in 1913. Archive Services hold a wide range of records relating to both and the article was primarily based on material we hold. Kenneth was interviewed for the feature and provided more detail on the lives of these two important figures from Dundee's past. Later that week the Archives had a visit from Scotland on Sunday reporters who were researching the Timex strike in Dundee which took place in 1993. We have a collection of material put together by George Mason who was involved in the strike and who now works at the University. The journalists spent some time talking to George and looking at the archives in preparation for the piece which appeared in the paper on 20th January.

9. Readers and Enquiries

January proved to be a busy start to the year with a total of 43 reader visits and a high number of enquiries from members of the public . Readers and enquiries were interested in a diverse range of topics including house history, genealogy, the textile industry (in both Dundee and India), medical records and the history of the University. The early signs are that February will be an even busier month, with the first few days of the month experiencing a packed Searchroom.

10. CAIS News

CAIS has been very busy in January with preparations for the new semester. CAIS has a new tutor, who wrote and will teach Military Archives. Several modules have also been revised and updated. CAIS staff also attended Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2013 in Olympia, London, from 22 to 24 February. CAIS were delighted to meet a wide range of people interested in their courses, including CAIS students who attended the event.

11. The Scottish Higher Education Information Practitioners Group (SHEIP)

The Scottish Higher Education Information Practitioners Group (SHEIP) is a group that meets regularly to discuss information compliance issues facing the HE sector in Scotland. Recent work has included updating sectoral guidance on the implementation of publication schemes under the FoI (Scotland) Act. We're pleased to note that Alan was elected recently as the new Chair of SHEIP.

12. Death of Professor Caird

We were saddened to learn of the recent death of Professor James B. Caird, whose papers are held by Archive Services (UR-SF 40). Professor Caird was born in Perth and in 1975 was appointed to the Chair of Geography at the University of Dundee, a post he held until his retirement in 1993. He is perhaps best known for his major survey into crofting on the Western Isles, carried out in the 1950s and 1960s. The extensive research notes he made when working on this landmark project are now held by Archive Services and are open for readers to consult.

13. Records Management Unit Update

Things are as busy as ever in the University Records Management Unit (RMU). A shred at the RM outstore at Claverhouse Industrial Estate, dispatched 120 boxes of Finance files. Since the start of the year RMU has already received 128 boxes of records. These include more than 80 boxes from the Procurement Office following there move from Caird House into a room on the third floor of the Tower Building. There are also more student files from Duncan of Jordanstone and Life Sciences, as well as a consignment from Accounts Payable.

14. Records Management Requests

As well as the new consignments received by RMU the level of requested documents by a range of departments remains high. A higher than usual numbers of student files and HR files have being requested, together with two very large audits for Research Finance. One of these, for Cancer Research UK was for nearly 150 documents, required documents from six years to be identified by Mhairi.

15. Retiral of Archive Services member of staff: Michael Bolik

Michael Bolik retired recently from the University after over 25 years' service in the University Archives. Michael s contribution to the development of the department was great; he was involved in the early accessions and cataloguing of the main jute collections, with former University Archivist, Joan Auld, and had developed a comprehensive knowledge of the archival collections. He was one of the first CAIS MLitt graduates and was responsible for the department's electronic and digital management systems. Michael is greatly missed by all his former colleagues and we wish him the very best in the future.

Standing on the brink...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:48:00 +0000

Who Do You Think You Are? Live, Britain's largest family history event, opens its doors today at 10am. Our stand is up and we're ready to answer your questions. You can find us at stand 411.

WDYTYA 2013 - all packed and raring to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:58:00 +0000

Our stand, banners and leaflets for Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2013 are packed and on their way to London as we type. If you're visiting Olympia for the show, which runs Friday-Sunday, come and see us at stand 411.