Witches, Ghosts and Ghouls

As Halloween draws near our thoughts have turned to the spooky and supernatural in our collections. Notable items include handwritten notes about the execution of the so-called ‘Witch of Monzie’ and the mysterious events that followed. These were found in a copy of Reverend George Blair’s famous poem ‘The Holocaust, or, The Witch of Monzie’ published in 1845.

Kate McNiven (alternately known as McNieven / Nicniven / Niven), the 'Witch of Monzie', was nurse to the Graeme family of Inchbrakie, Perthshire.  It is said that in c 1715 she was burned at the stake, which would make her one of the last women to be executed as a witch in Scotland. However other sources suggest that, if she ever existed, she must have been executed around 1615.

George Blair was pastor of Monzie parish, Perthshire around 1843-1844. His tenure was brief as he was suspended and resigned from his charge. The two documents ('Colonel Graham of Inchbrakie's Account of the Witch of Monzie’ and a memorandum regarding the Witch of Monzie both by Grace Grame) were possibly used by Blair when writing the poem. Their exact provenance and reliability are unknown. Interestingly one implies that Kate McNiven cursed the Ministers of the Parish of Monzie before her death. Perhaps the unfortunate Blair felt he was the latest victim of her curse.

Another Halloween related item can be found in the papers of the writer and hill walker Syd Scroggie which include his account of the ‘Ghost of Moss Alasdair’ and its encounters with Andrew MacIlwraith, Duncan Pitscotie and Robert Calder. Moss Alasdair was said to be a ghost who dwelt on the Glass Cairn and pushed people off, resulting in a series of fatalities.  It seems that MacIlwraith and Pitscotie had an odd encounter with a mysterious shepherd and his black dog on their way to a rendezvous with Calder on the Glass Cairn. Meanwhile Calder, coming from the other direction, discovered a skeleton and sensed another presence in the cavern he was sheltering in. He commanded it to disturb the living no more and after a flash of lightening the atmosphere changed.  At the same time the shepherd his companions were following vanished.

Scroggie presents this as a true story. However was this an account of a real event or is this manuscript a clever work of fiction by its author? We would be very interested to know if anyone can shed any more light on this story .

Contact the archives or visit us to find out more about these collections and our local history books which contain more supernatural stories. www.dundee.ac.uk/archives and archives@dundee.ac.uk

Age of Revolution in the Archives

Over the next couple of weeks level one students undertaking the Age of Revolution module on the University’s History Programme will be carrying out a source based exercise which uses material from our collections relating to Dundee in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including maps and an extract from a Dundee Directory. This assessment encourages students to think about primary sources as well as some of the broader issues relating to the impact the industrial revolution had on Dundee, Scotland and the rest of Britain.

In previous years many students undertaking this and similar exercises have come to the archives to enhance their work by making use of the many other sources we have relating to life in Dundee at this time, and we anticipate many of this year’s cohort will visit us again in the next few days. Some of the collections students have made use of in the past include:

MS 11 Baxter Brothers & Co Ltd. The Baxters operated one of Dundee's major textile works. Their extensive archives include many records relating to the business as well as an account of the early days of flax spinning in Dundee written by Charles Mackie, 'an old mill manager'.
MS 17 The Thornton Collection  and MS 105 The Shiell and Small Collection These collections includes material relating to the coming of the railways to Dundee as well as several plans of Dundee and its buildings

MS 102 The Peter Carmichael of Arthurstone Collection. There are many fascinating items to be found in the papers of one of Scotland’s great factory managers and engineers including photographs of Dundee in the nineteenth century, personal correspondence and an excellent autobiographical account of life and trade in the city.

MS 134 Working Class Life in Dundee for Twenty Five Years, 1878-1903  This study by Dr David Lennox includes much material relating to the late eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century as background to its arguments on the main period it covers.

THB 1 The Dundee Royal Infirmary Collection has a wide range of useful information on life in Dundee at this time including reports of the work of the hospital and disease in Dundee, patient admission registers and directors minutes. These records provide insight into a range of subjects including health, immigration and working patterns.

KLoc The Kinnear Local Book Collection has a number of rare histories of Dundee as well as publications produced in this period such as the Dundee Directories,  and the Rev. George Lewis's ‘A course of lectures on the physical, educational and moral statistics of Dundee delivered in the Watt Institution Hall in December 1840’

The archives also have many other collections which contain material relevant to students of the Industrial Revolution as can be seen from our On-line Catalogue (http://134.36.1.31/) and our source lists and subject indexes (http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/sourcetop.htm). In addition we hold copies of most of a number of useful texts on the history of Dundee in the industrial period which are available for consultation in the search room. These include:

L. Miskell, C. Whatley & B. Harris (eds) Victorian Dundee Image and Realities 2^nd Edition  (Dundee, 2011)
C. McKean, P. Whatley with K. Baxter Lost Dundee (Edinburgh, 2008)
D. Swinfen, A. Smith and C. Whatley The Life and Times of Dundee (Edinburgh, 1993)
C. McKean, Dundee: An Illustrated Architectural Introduction/Guide (Edinburgh, 1984 & 1993)
C. Mckean, C. Whatley and B Harris (Eds) Dundee 1500-1800 Renaissance Burgh to Enlightenment Town (Dundee, 2009)

Dr Kenneth Baxter 

eARMMS, August/September 2012

This is the latest edition of the ARMMS and CAIS newsletter, eARMMS, that we also post here. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.

In this edition:

1. Dundee and Science Exhibition
2. Artist in Residence in the Zoology Museum
3. Dr Mary Young Collection
4. Other Recent Accessions
5. ARA Conference Brighton
6. Skills for the Future Programme
7. Dundee and the Great War
8. European Erasmus Commission Intensive Programme Summer School
9. CAIS Study School
10. Oral History Interview
11. Twitter
12. Enquiries
13. Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia – inForum 2012
14. Update from the Records Management Unit
15. International Council on Archives Congress
16. British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ontario (BIFHSGO)

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1. Dundee and Science Exhibition

Museum Services have curated a special exhibition at Dundee Central Library to mark the centenary of a major scientific conference. In September 1912, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (now called the British Science Association) held a meeting in Dundee that attracted over 2,000 leading scientists from across Britain and the world. The exhibition has been created to tie into this year’s BSA science festival, which is taking place in Aberdeen on exactly the same dates as the Dundee meeting 100 years ago. The exhibition tells the story of the meeting and focuses on some of the scientific topics discussed, showing how they relate to current research – for example work on fruit growing, pollution, numeracy and Antarctic discovery. The displays also explore what Dundee was like in 1912, with dozens of rarely seen photographs on show. Archive Services contributed both text and images for this section of the exhibition, while members of the Tayside & Fife branch of the British Science Association contributed to the science section. The exhibition will be on show until 29 September.

2. Artist in Residence in the Zoology Museum

As part of an Art Funded project to build a collection of art inspired by D'Arcy Thompson, Museum Services has collaborated with the Barns-Graham Charitable Trust and the Royal Scottish Academy to host an artist-in-residence in the Zoology Museum over the summer. Lindsay Sekulowicz studied at the Glasgow School of Art and is now based in London, where she has worked on various natural science projects in the past. Lindsay's studio space is being provided at Balmungo, the former home and studio of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, one of the many 20th-century artists inspired by D'Arcy's work.

3. Dr Mary Young Collection

Archive Services have received eight boxes of research papers of the late Dr Mary Young, deposited by her son, John. Mary was associated with the department for many years, firstly as a researcher than as a member of the ARMMS team. Mary is remembered fondly and missed by all. We are delighted to provide a home for these research papers which will be an important resource for future researchers.

4. Other Recent Accessions

A number of additional accessions have been received during the past month. They include family papers relating to the Anderson and Kerr families who were connected with a house called the Grange in Monifieth, which complement the Anderson and Kerr papers already contained in our Thornton collection; a four volume set of The Works of John Glas and two nineteenth century Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum volumes. Additional items have been received from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, accruals to the college's archives.

5. ARA Conference Brighton

The annual Archives and Records Association (UK & Ireland) Conference was held during August, in Brighton on the theme of 'Progression, Innovation and New Landscapes'. ARMMS and CAIS were represented by Caroline, Craig, Jennifer and Keren. Sessions included sessions such as Documenting the 21st Century, Innovations in User Services and The New Digital Landscape. As Chair of the conference committee Caroline was busy with the organisation and programme, which included papers on Wikileaks, the collapse of the Cologne archive and funding. Tony Ageh, Controller of the BBC Archive and inventor of the iPlayer, was one of the keynote speakers. 220 delegates attended and it was a great opportunity to meet other archivists, records managers and conservators and share experiences in different repositories throughout the UK. A drinks reception was held at the end of Brighton Pier with a welcome from the Mayor of Brighton (a former employee of DC Thomson) and a 'Latin' gala dinner was held in the hotel. This involved delegate participation and many took to the floor to show off their best salsa moves!

6. Skills for the Future Programme

Caroline recently attended an event organised by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland at Stirling Castle, to showcase the work of their Skills for the Future Trainees. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Skills for the Future Programme provides opportunities for training and work experience in the archive and heritage sector. CAIS has been involved in the programme since it started and provides modules in Archive Management and Outreach and Education for the trainees.

The current students attended an induction in Dundee to the CAIS courses in September and were introduced to the VLE, archive issues, oral history principles and transcription issues by Craig, Pat, Kenneth and Keren.

7. Dundee and the Great War

Planning for a series of events to commemorate the Great War and its impact on Dundee is underway. Archive and Museum Services will be joining representatives of History, McManus, the Wellgate Library and other Dundee heritage institutions in organising a range of talks, exhibitions and other activities over the next few years.

8. European Erasmus Commission Intensive Programme Summer School

Two CAIS students were among a group of over 25 students who attended a European Erasmus Intensive Programme (IP) Summer School Archives and Records Challenges in the Digital Information Society (ARCHIDIS). The Programme is supported by 13 European universities and took place from 30th July - 10th August, hosted by the Mid-Sweden University, in Harnosand, Sweden. The students examined issues surrounding appraisal and gained 10 credits towards their masters degrees from group and online work and written submissions. Next year the Summer School will be hosted by CAIS in Dundee. Craig and Pat were part of the teaching team in Harnosand.

9. CAIS Study School

A CAIS Study School for 28 new distance-learning students took place from Tuesday 4th September and Saturday 8th September. Students attended sessions including Archive Management: Principles and Practice, Electronic Records Management and Digital Preservation, Ethics and Palaeography, Diplomatic and Family and Local History. CAIS now has over 200 continuing Masters students from the UK, Europe and other areas of the world. The twice yearly study school is a great opportunity to meet our students in person.

10. Oral History Interview

On 28th August Kenneth and Michael conducted an oral history interview with John Carvell, who studied at Queens College and the University of Dundee in the 1960s. While attending the University he was a member of the 1968 expedition to Scoresby Land, Greenland, the records of which are held by Archive Services. The interview, which has been added to our oral history collection, includes fascinating details about the expedition and provides valuable insight into life at the University of Dundee at the time it became independent.

11. Twitter

The @UoD_Archives and @CAIS_Archives twitter accounts continue to be be popular. The number of people following the former has almost doubled this year and we are delighted with the number of our tweets which are being retweeted by a diverse range of users. We have even started to receive enquiries via Twitter! @The UoD_Museums account is also going from strength to strength with over 1600 people following it..

12. Enquiries

Archive Services continue to receive many enquiries from people across the globe. Recent subjects include the Great War, the jute industry, records of people who died in Dundee Asylum and the reorganisation of the University's sport teams in the 1960s. As ever, a wide range of people have sent enquiries in the past few weeks including academics, students and family historians. Enquires can be made in person, via telephone or by e-mail. We also have an online enquiry form which can be found here: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/enquiry.htm

13. Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia – inForum 2012

Following the recent ICA Congress, Alan was invited by RIM Professionals Australasia to give a keynote presentation at two one-day conferences held as part of inForum 2012. His paper, 'Digital (dis)engagement: Recordkeeping Risk or Recordkeeping Reward?' examined the challenges faced by recordkeepers when dealing with digital information and asked whether recordkeeping theory and practice was robust enough to cope with rapidly evolving online environments. Other papers at the conferences included and excellent exploration by Kathryn Crawford of the methods used at Victoria University to capture records created in social media services and a keynote from Miriam McIntire Nisbet, Office of Government Information Services, NARA, on the Freedom of Information and Openness agenda in the United States.

14. Update from the Records Management Unit

As predicted, August was a particularly busy month for requests. A preliminary tally of retrieval forms indicates that nearly 400 items were produced. That will need to be double checked, but it is one of the highest monthly totals that RMU has ever seen. September has also started quite briskly, so let’s hope things get a bit calmer soon so that plans for the next shred can be resumed and further work done on all the records which are still waiting to be properly sorted out for listing and boxing up.

15. International Council on Archives Congress

Pat, Caroline and Alan attended the Congress and presented a session on ‘Communities, engagement and risk: Developing sustainable recordkeeping services in a changing world.’ They attended sessions and meetings of the Section Bureau of the Section on Archival Education (ICA/SAE) and Pat also attended her final meeting as Secretary to the Section on University and Research Institutions (ICA/SUV).

16. British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ontario (BIFHSGO)

Pat was invited to attend the BIFHSGO conference in Ottawa in September and presented a three hour workshop on Scottish Archival Sources online and a lecture on the Scottish Poor Law as a source for family historians. Over 250 delegates attended and leaflets on CAIS family history degrees and short courses and the Scottish Council on Archives were available.

Culture Day is on its way!

On Wednesday 3rd October the University of Dundee will hold its Annual Culture Day, an afternoon of short talks by University staff from a diverse range of disciplines. This will be the 8th year of an event which has proved to be highly popular both within the University and with the wider public. The theme of this year’s event is ‘Feeling Good? - Health, Well-Being and the Arts’ and it will feature  ten presentations which examine the connections between culture & the arts and health & well-being.

As in previous years staff from Archive Services and Museum Services will be among the speakers. Museum Curator Matthew Jarron will open proceedings with a talk on the remarkable story of art collecting by Dundee dentists in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  Later Archive Service’s Kenneth Baxter will use materials held in the archives to examine the stories of some of Dundee’s early female doctors and medical graduates and the impact they made upon the city and the wider world. Other speakers include Beth Lord, Brian Hoyle, Billy Kenfeick, Derek Partick and Sandra Wilson.

Culture day is organised by the University’s Culture and Arts Forum (CAF), an informal network  developed to support and promote the various departments within the University that are involved in cultural activity. Matthew  is Convener of CAF, and Deputy Archivist Caroline Brown is its Secretary.

The event is free and is open to anyone.  As in previous years, the talks will be held in Baxter Conference Room 1.36. The event will commence at 1.45pm and is scheduled to finish at about 5pm. More details including the full programme for Culture Day can be found here:  http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/caf/.