RBS Archive news

Congratulations to the Royal Bank of Scotland Archives who have had one of their collections recognised by the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

Thanks to Alison Turton for the following information sent to ARCHIVES-NRA:

"Following on from the announcement yesterday from David Dawson, Chair of the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Working Group, RBS Group Archives is pleased to announce that a collection of its documents has been inscribed on UNESCO’s new UK Memory of the World Register.


The inscribed archives relate to the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies. Dating from the 1690s, they tell the story of a failed Scottish attempt to build a trading colony at Darien, in present-day Panama. The scheme’s catastrophic failure prompted an economic collapse that was instrumental in forcing Scotland towards political Union with England, finally enacted in 1707. As a result the archives are uniquely significant in documenting the economic circumstances underlying the foundation of modern Scotland.

The nomination for the UNESCO register was made by the RBS archive team with the National Library of Scotland, which also holds Company of Scotland records.

To coincide with the launch of the UK Memory of the World Register, we have refreshed our online teaching resources for schools, which include materials based on the story of the Darien scheme and the Company of Scotland archives. This resource is available in English and Gaelic on our new website at: http://www.rbs.com/ourteachingresources.

We’ve also added to the information available in our online archive guide about the Company of Scotland archive - just type ‘RBS Heritage Online’ into your browser."