‘Alhallow Evin’ in Scotland
The appearance of carved pumpkins (or turnips in Scotland), spooky decorations and plentiful sweet treats marks the arrival of Halloween. In the Christian calendar, Halloween, or its many variants Hallowe’en,…
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Bobby Jones, the Declaration of Independence and Tom Duncan: Celebrating St Andrew in Savannah
What do you get if you mix a famous golfer, an organ-paying medievalist and the Declaration of Independence? The improbable though entirely true tale of how a young lecturer came to swap St Andrews, Fife, for sunny…
Disability History – new narratives in old records
November marks the start of UK Disability History month and the opportunity to discover and learn new narratives within the University’s archives. Archivists Sarah Rodriguez and Elizabeth Thompson-MacRae have been…
A pound of raisins
It is that time of year again – costumes, raisins receipts and foam fights! The earliest records in the University’s archive relating to Raisin celebrations are from the 19th century. Student reminiscences record…
Unbe-leaf-able! A Thynne-ly disguised secret appears in a library book
In this blog PhD candidate Phoebe Macindoe discusses leaf books and a new acquisition for the Library. All the volumes in the library are made up of leaves, they are the pages that constitute the book. Some books,…
The Brontë books in the Hargreaves Collection
In this blog, Noor Zohdy, Laidlaw Scholar 2024, reports on their summer research project looking at editions of Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. As part of my Laidlaw research project this summer on Anne…
Conservation of a Japanese Lacquered Photograph Album
In this blog, Furniture & Wooden Artefacts Conservator Sarah Gerrish reports on conservation work carried out on a Japanese photo album from University Collections (ALB-116). As a freelance furniture and wooden…
Winner of the 2024 James David Forbes Collecting Prize: March of the Grenguins
In April of this year I found myself posing with a colony of penguins. Principal Professor Dame Sally Mapstone was there too. The photographer asked me to look down at the birds, and in that intimate moment, staring…
There is nothing in the paper I can do…
As a general rule, we do not retain examination scripts or answers in the University archive. There are a few items however that have been kept by archivists due to their uniqueness. During this examination period, we…
Urania Propitia by Maria Cunitz
In this blog Farah Wallauer outlines a 2023 summer project which was made possible through funding from the Royal Astronomical Society and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) public engagement funding, as…
Cradle Making at the V&A Dundee
In this blog Conservation Technician Gemma Kelly from the National Library reports on a recent exhibition cradle making course hosted at the V&A Dundee. In December last year, I had the pleasure of attending a course…