Case study: RCAHMS - creative use, interpretation and community engagement

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) is one of Scotland’s National Collections and is responsible for information and archives about the built heritage of the nation.

It has an archive which preserves the accumulated results of 100 years of surveying, recording and interpreting the built heritage of Scotland. This collection is made up of 14.5 million items, including photographs, maps, drawings and documents, it provides a vivid and fascinating picture of the human influence on Scotland’s Places from earliest times to the present day.

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The case study focuses on the project to catalogue the archive of the architect Sir Basil Spence which was gifted to the RCAHMS and spans his complete working life. Through the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, it has been possible to reassess the work of Spence and to demonstrate the potential of architectural collections to encourage people of all ages to appreciate and explore their heritage.

The full case study is available here and the others can be found here.

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Business connections: Aberdeen Maritime Museum receives funding from Mae...

The Aberdeen Maritime Museum has received £90,000 of funding from Maersk Oil to help with the refurbishment of its education suite.

Maersk Oil wants to leave a lasting legacy in the Granite City and believes the museum offers a unique opportunity for people to discover more about the industry which is playing such an important role in shaping its history.

Other areas of the Museum have also benefitted from funds raised through connections with business - the Energy Exploration Galleries are being renewed after Oil & Gas UK members raised the minimum £360,000 required for the project.

Full story here.

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Case study: Lloyds Banking Group - identity and engagement

Lloyds Banking Group has an extensive archive, which comprises some 6 km of records, stored at state of the art repositories in Edinburgh and London.

The bank's archive includes records of several well-known Scottish brands, including Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows. For the bank, the archive is a hugely rich resource, which it seeks to make use of in support of the business.

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In the past, materials from the archive have been used to support milestone events such as company anniversaries. They are also regularly used at colleague training and orientation events, to inform and inspire staff with the history and heritage of the company.
The full case study is available here and the other case studies can be found here.

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'Oldest Companies' Progress

The Scotland's 100 oldest companies project has passed the halfway mark as the fiftieth entry was posted up today on the project wiki. While the BACS Surveying Officer may pretend that it's been a solitary slog at the coal face, in actual fact the response from business, record-holders and interested researchers has been very enthusiastic. Thanks to everyone who has helped, a large 'thank you' page is being prepared on the wiki even now.

However while progress has been generally good, I have been unable to unearth anything on three companies. If anyone knows anything about The Scottish National Glass and Glazing Company Limited (SC001047, incorporated in 1881), Scottish Property Investment (SC001597 incorporated in 1887) or Spanish Real Property (SC000683, incorporated in 1876) please get in touch, either via here or the blog. Thanks.

(Photo is sourced from here)

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Morton Young & Borland Textiles

The Independent has an article today (and the Scotsman also featured this story over the weekend here) about how the firm of Morton Young & Borland Textiles based in Newmilns, Ayrshire has been involved in supplying authentic period fabrics for the TV series Boardwalk Empire.

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The company records are held privately but have been surveyed and the details of them are available on the National Register of Archives for Scotland website here.

**Update** Much better pictures here.

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