Highland Archive Centre

September’s theme of transport and travel lends itself nicely to our Doors Open Day displays. The overarching theme for Doors Open Day across Scotland this year is ‘Routes, Networks and Connections’, and to this end our display case for the month contains some images relating to the development of the A9 and the Kessock Bridge.

Staff have been busy preparing a wide selection of archival items for the public to view; the date for your diary is this Saturday 7 September, 10.00-16.00 and you can drop in at any time during these hours. We also have some spaces left on our free ‘behind the scenes’ Doors Open Day tours on Saturday. To book a place please email us at: [email protected] or give us a call on: 01349 781130.

[Images from HCA/D600 Sir Willliam Halcrow Ltd and HCA/D1320 A9 Construction, Bogbain to Longman]

We're busy at the Highland Archive Centre today putting the finishing touches to displays and content for our Doors Open Day 2024! event on Saturday. There's still time to book onto a behind the scenes tour or just drop in any time between 10-4!

Doors Open Days High Life Highland Am Baile - Highland History and Culture The Highland Council

HCA/D582/B/2/26 and 27

Throughout September we are going to be focussing on transport and travel related archives within the collections. We start off with two photographs of some rather uncomfortable looking modes of transport from the Jack Lumsden Collection; a Singer Tricycle at Muir of Ord and a Boneshaker at Old Mill, Golspie.

This week we said goodbye to Robert, one of our volunteers, who is soon to begin undergraduate studies in History at the University of Edinburgh. Good luck Robert and thank you for all your hard work at the Highland Archive Centre!

This was a wonderful part of our Doors Open Day a couple of years ago so we're delighted that Am Baile - Highland History and Culture will once again be showcasing football memories at our event on 7th September!

HCA/CRC/5/3/58/3/1 Conon Bridge School Inventory, 19th Century

Today we have pages from the inventory book of the school in Conon Bridge. It paints a picture of what the inside of a classroom in the 1880s would have looked like. Various maps sourced, from Ross and Cromarty to Palestine, slates for writing on, and implements for tending to the fire.

We are deeply honoured that High Life Highland's Archive Service has been named 'Record Keeping Service of the Year' at the Archives and Records Association UK & Ireland (ARA) Excellence Awards. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for us, allowing us to receive 63% of the public vote. Congratulations to our fellow nominees, the Essex Police Museum and Lancashire Archives and Local History, for their incredible work. This award is a tribute to our dedicated staff and volunteers who strive every day to preserve and share the rich history of the Highlands. Thank you for believing in us!

Richard our Senior Conservator attended the ceremony last night and accepted the award on behalf of the Service.

Read more on this story here: https://hlh.scot/4dY7g9D

High Life Highland Am Baile - Highland History and Culture The Highland Council Scottish Council on Archives Museums and Heritage Highland

The Highland Archive Service Records Management team is hitting the road with The Highland Council E-Cargo bike pilot!

This eco-friendly bike lets us zip between the Highland Archive Centre and Council HQ, delivering vital files to our Inverness colleagues.

Today, Records Assistant Paul completed his first mission, successfully dropping off records to legal and planning, and picking up a few to return to the Archives. Sustainable, speedy, and efficient!

Sustrans High Life Highland

11am next Thursday sees the return of Learn with Lorna with episode 190, 'Tracing house histories'!

We hope to see you live on any of our four pages (Highland Archive Centre, Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archive, Lochaber Archive Centre or Skye and Lochalsh Archive) and remember if you can't watch live you'll be able to check it out alongside all previous episodes on the High Life Highland YouTube channel after it's aired.

See you then!

(Images of Abertarff House NTS courtesy of Am Baile - Highland History and Culture)

HCA/CRC/5/3/36/4/1/3 Maryburgh School photograph including note of names, 1921.

📢 Opportunity to work in our team!

ARCHIVE CENTRE STEWARD, 16 hours per week (Thursday and Friday) 8am-5pm
Closing date: 20 SEPTEMBER 2024

Join the Highland Archive Centre as an Archive Centre Steward! You'll welcome customers to the building, ensure security, and oversee our building systems, including heating and air handling. The role includes coordinating with contractors, maintaining a clean and safe environment, and monitoring CCTV. As a key-holder, you'll handle alarm callouts, assist with moving records, and support meetings and group visits to the building. This flexible, varied role is perfect for someone who enjoys responsibility, wants to make a difference, and values history. Apply today to come and be part of our team!

High Life Highland The Highland Council Inverness City Centre BID

CHLH/2407/14 Archive Centre Steward (Temporary for 23 months) - High Life Highland Inverness | 16 hours per week | £22,659 – £23,314 pro rata | Closing Date: 20/09/24

We're in the news!

Highland Archivist Alison, Archive Assistant Alasdair, and Family Historian Anne were delighted to chat to The Press and Journal a few days ago to share the story of how they discovered they were related!

If you're interested in learning about your family tree, and maybe uncovering some surprises, why not book onto our family history for beginners classes or visit one of our archive centres to see how we can help? Or why not come along to our Doors Open Days at Highland Archive Centre (7th Sept) or Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archive (22nd Sept).

The Highland Council High Life Highland Scottish Indexes Scottish Council on Archives Archives & Records Association Scotland - ARA Scotland

Keeping it in the family: Inverness archive centre staff discover they are all related Colleagues are distant cousins and all connected to both The King and to Robert the Bruce.

HCA/D1241/2/1 Society for the Support of Gaelic Schools, 1812

In the early 19th century this society was setup with the intention of addressing the inadequacies of teaching the native population of the Highlands and Islands to read and write in English when the majority only understood the Gaelic language. The annual reports document the early improvement in literacy in many rural areas once these Gaelic schools were opened, not only teaching children, but people of all ages.

Here is a list of schoolmasters in 1812, along with an excerpt of the report on the village of Jeantown, now known as Lochcarron village, commenting on the uptake in learning to read.

Lots of memories being generated from this picture! If you're interested in the history of the Northern Meeting Park, or have any stories to share about events or activities there, please do come along to the Highland Archive Centre tomorrow afternoon at 2pm.

All welcome, admission free - but please book a place to ensure there is enough tea/coffee and cake for everyone! Email on [email protected] or phone 075 929 42163.

Today we are continuing our theme of Highland dancing at the Northern Meeting Park. Thanks to Am Baile - Highland History and Culture for this photo dated either 1993 or 1994. Did you dance at the Tattoo, or do you remember watching dancing there? If you would like to find out more about the Park's history, or share memories about it, why not come along to our free, informal Tuesday afternoon workshops at the Highland Archive Centre, starting Tuesday 27th August at 2pm? All welcome. If you are planning coming along, please email or phone us in advance as there will be free tea/coffee and cake and we don't want to run out!

Photo details: Highland dancers at Inverness Tattoo, Northern Meeting Park, 1990s. Photo: Jimmy Thomson; source: Highland Photographic Archive. This photograph was taken at the Inverness Tattoo in the Northern Meeting Park, either in 1993 or 1994. The piper is William Hamilton, former Inverness District Council head of architectural services. Mr Hamilton still plays the pipes for Saltire Society events.

The girls are: Claire Forsyth, Jayne Shepherd (now Calderwood), Julie MacRitchie, Elizabeth Mackenzie, Angela Kennedy, Sheena Campbell, Angela Shepherd, Lynn Beattie, Judith Macdonald and Heather Cadger."

PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE:

The online class on Monday evenings will now start on Monday 9th September and run for four weeks.

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There is still time to book onto our Family History for Beginners Classes!

The next set of classes will take place on-line over ZOOM as well as IN-PERSON at the Highland Archive Centre, Inverness from 2nd September.

Set 1: Monday evenings (from 2nd September) 7pm-9pm ZOOM
Set 2: Wednesday mornings (from 4th September) 10am-12noon IN PERSON

This is a series of four classes covering subjects such as Statutory Births, Marriages & Deaths; Census Records; Church Records, Wills, Memorial Inscriptions and many other useful relevant records.

The cost is £44 (£36 - HLH Member) for the four weeks. To book a place or for more information please email [email protected]

Come along to the Highland Archive Centre on Saturday 7th September between 10am and 4pm. There will be lots to see and do; see the poster for further details.

If you would like to book on a behind the scenes tour please email [email protected] or phone 01349 781130.

We look forward to seeing you there!

HCA/CI/5/28/3 Letter re Support for Gaelic Schools, 28 August 1849

In this letter addressed to John Mackenzie, Bank of Scotland, Inverness from town clerk Alex Mactavish, the subject of a lady’s society in Edinburgh organising ‘a sale of fancy work for the support of the Gaelic Schools in the Highlands’ is discussed. Mactavish proposes that the language ‘is more deserving of attention’ than the ‘Highland music, dancing and games’ that had seen a resurgence, for ‘Gaelic Schools [had] done more good than any other of the means adopted of late to improve the moral condition of the Highlander. In most cases where a man reads Gaelic he becomes a reader of English and now so common is the reading of Gaelic that a periodical of great want is … circulated in the Highlands.’

It's been a pleasure this week to welcome Lynne to the Highland Archive Centre (and to Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archive). Lynne (who has a background in museum work) is on holiday from New Zealand and apparently one of the ways she prepared for her visit to Scotland was by watching all 189 episodes of Learn With Lorna on repeat! (She's even able to quote parts back to us!).

Since she arrived in the Highlands Lynne has (amongst other things) visited two of our archive centres, had a family history consultation with Anne, and attended Jacobite Scotland events at the Highland Archive Centre and Inverness Museum and Art Gallery.

It's been lovely to get to know Lynne and we're very grateful for all the positive publicity she's been generating for the Highland Archive Service in both Scotland and New Zealand - telling everyone she meets about Learn with Lorna and the Highland Archive Service's work and collections! The support is much appreciated!

High Life Highland The Highland Council Scottish Council on Archives Archives & Records Association Scotland - ARA Scotland Am Baile - Highland History and Culture

HCA/CI/5/3/174/z Central School, Inverness, 1929

Lovely to welcome people to the archive centre this afternoon to view a display of original Jacobite archive material as well as reference books and family trees!

There's still another hour if you want to pop in and look at ex*****on statements, church minutes, battle plans, and other material we're showing as part of Jacobite Scotland Festival 2024.

And if you can't make it in today remember all of these documents are permanently held here and you can request to see them at any time during our opening hours..

Jacobite Scotland

Something that might be of interest to our Caithness followers 👇

This event is being run by our colleagues at High Life Highland Countryside Rangers with Waterlines Lybster on Saturday - it looks like a great day out and there's still time to book tickets!

HCA/FL/2/5/9/21 – sketch of school teacher’s house and garden grounds, Kirkhill, March 1876 and CI/5/4/7/1 – Kirkhill School Board Minutes, 1876

It’s always a satisfying experience when you can cross-reference records within different collections. Here we have the Kirkhill School Board minutes (from the County of Inverness papers) discussing the future of the old school buildings and grounds at Kirkhill after requesting a sketch be made available to the board. We can presume this is the same sketch they discussed, made by William Paterson, that is found in our Fraser Lovat collection. From the minutes we learn that these buildings and grounds were set to be sold “on Monday 3rd April at noon”.

The Lovat Estate maps and plans are not available to view in person at the Highland Archive Centre as they have been digitised and can all be searched on the National Library of Scotland’s website: https://maps.nls.uk/collections/lovat/

HCA/CN/5/3/12c Millbank Primary School (Nairn) Logbook 1964-1977

Following on from our post on Wednesday, here we have an extract from the Millbank Primary School (Nairn) Logbook dated 1972.

In April 1972 a staff meeting was held to discuss the ‘Statement of Principles and Code of Practice in connection with the elimination of corporal punishment in schools’. This statement was issued by the ‘Liaison Committee on Educational Matters’.

The headteacher goes on to express approval of the Code and details the points made therein. The statement does not call for an outright ban but clear restriction on what type of misdemeanour it can be used to punish. The familial situation of the child should also be taken into account. One of the points made in the statement is that corporal punishment should be banned from infant classes and gradually phased out in the other primary classes but the headteacher does not agree with this last point.

It would be another twelve years before corporal punishment was outlawed in schools. The law came into force on 22nd July 1986 and followed a European Court of Human Rights ruling in 1982 that a child could not be hit without parental consent, nor could they be suspended from school for refusing to submit to being hit.

This type of archival document has restrictions on access and is closed for 50 years. You might know already that school admission registers are closed for 100 years because they contain pupils’ personal details. Logbooks deal with the daily running of the school and do not usually refer to individual pupils by name, which is why the closure time is only 50 years.

HCA/CRC/5/3/45b – Regulations Governing the use of Corporal Punishment in Schools, March 1958

These regulations were contained as loose papers in the log book for Scatwell school; something for teachers to ponder over before corporal punishment eventually being banned in all state schools by 1987.

There are events happening across the Highland Archive Service over the next few months! Check out our 'What's On' page to learn more about Monday's online talk on the lives of Lord Lovat and Duncan Forbes, the interactive exhibition of traditional Gaelic singing at Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre, and all sorts of other things. We hope to see you at one of our events soon!

What's On... - Archives Service Highland Archive Service offers a range of activities and events for all ages across our four archive centres and online. Find out what’s on and how you can join in… We do not charge for most of our activities and events, but Highland Archives Service is a charity and we rely on your donations t...

Our Family History for Beginners classes are back!

The next set of classes will take place on-line over ZOOM as well as IN-PERSON at the Highland Archive Centre, Inverness from 2nd September.

Set 1: Monday evenings (from 2nd September) 7pm-9pm ZOOM
Set 2: Wednesday mornings (from 4th September) 10am-12noon IN PERSON

This is a series of four classes covering subjects such as Statutory Births, Marriages & Deaths; Census Records; Church Records, Wills, Memorial Inscriptions and many other useful relevant records.

The cost is £44 (£36 - HLH Member) for the four weeks. To book a place or for more information please email [email protected]

HCA/CRC/5/3/55/d Aultandoo Evening school log book extract, March 2nd, 1900

Alongside the ‘regular’ school log books for Aultandoo we also find extracts from a log book for an evening school. These were generally for those who wanted to learn more, primarily adults. Weather and work commitments seemed to be the main reason why attendance would suffer, with frequent mention of some of them not attending due to working on the railway, but otherwise the pupils were often referred to as good and ‘eager’ scholars. In the parish of Lochbroom, and situated in a particularly stunning location on the coast overlooking the iconic Summer Isles, Aultandoo, with other variants emerging through the years such as Altandow and Altandoo, is an anglicised form of the original Gaelic name; An t-Alltan Dubh, meaning ‘The Little Black Stream’. There is even a song, a hunting song, from the parish of Lochbroom of the same title. We can imagine that this song was perhaps sung in the school, as it was noted on Jan 28th 1898 that “the singing class was very well attended”.

We're really looking forward to hosting these workshops. Please do register your interest to come along if you're able to do so (details on how to register included in post below)!

📢📢Would you like to find out more about the history of the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness, or share some of your stories about it? Why not sign up for our free, informal storygathering Tuesday afternoon workshops, starting on Tuesday 27th August at 2pm, in the Highland Archive Centre? All welcome but spaces are limited so please book ahead by emailing or phoning us.