Rarely-seen documents celebrating the legacy of working Scots have gone on show at the National Records of Scotland.
From Antarctic adventure to tartan, from banking to engineering, and from coal to the world’s best-selling whisky, ‘Scots at Work’ draws together treasures from the archives of Scottish industries and businesses for the first time, in support of The Working Archive campaign.
Highlights include Sir Walter Scott’s application to the Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society for life assurance in 1824, written when the famous author was 54 years old and, as he stated, ‘in good health’.
He went bankrupt in 1826, and after his death in 1832 the £3,000, worth about £148,000 at today’s values, was paid to one of his creditors. The document is held in the Lloyd’s Banking Group Archives alongside historic records of the British Linen Bank, which numbered Scott among its customers.
A commemorative pound note and printing plate are also on show.
From the archive of the instrument-making firm of Barr and Stroud, held at Glasgow University comes an order for a range-finder for Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s final expedition. The company loaned it for use on the vessel Terra Nova, and it was returned in 1913 after the fateful expedition.
Other rarities in the exhibition celebrate Scotland's remarkable working archives, with loans of documents and objects by several Scottish archives and museums.
Items from the National Records of Scotland include a colourful catalogue of ‘Carresto’ domestic combination grates, made by the Carron Iron Co in 1938.
Visitors to the exhibition in General Register House can also see vintage film clips of Scottish industries from the Scottish Screen Archive.
Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop said, “This exhibition gives a fascinating insight into the diverse heritage of Scotland's businesses, and their products and services. Visitors have the chance to view artefacts that show not only the historic contribution of the nation’s companies to globally important events, but also how consumers and employees carried out their business at home and abroad over hundreds of years.”
Irene O’Brien, Chair of the Scottish Council on Archives, said, “This collaborative exhibition kicks off an exciting year-long archive awareness campaign called ‘The Working Archive’ [which] aims to throw a spotlight on both the importance of those archives that tell the story of Scotland’s businesses and on the special role that archivists play. It also supports the ongoing National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland.”
The free display is on show now at General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh until 21 June 2013 Monday to Friday: 9am – 4.30pm.