Where do you think we are?

We're off to Who Do You Think You Are? Live again later this month and we've just finished the artwork for some new leaflets. This one is for our short online course in house history.

If you're heading to Olympia between 22-24 February please stop by and say hello. We'll be at stand 411. If you can't make it to the show and would like information on any of our courses or programmes please give us a call on +44 (0)1382 385543 or email armtraining@dundee.ac.uk.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2012

As things get back to normal after the festivities our thoughts are turning towards the annual Who Do You Think You Are? Live event, to be held in February at the London Olympia. CAIS will once again be represented at the show and as usual we're looking forward to meeting some of our students and other attendees on the show floor. We'll be answering questions about records and archives and distributing information on our short courses and Masters degrees in Family and Local History by online distance learning.

Over the next few weeks you should start to see some of our new advertising popping up in various publications. This one was finished earlier today and should appear next month - let us know if you spot it anywhere.

World War Exhibition

To commemorate Remembrance Day Archive Services have mounted a small exhibition of material relating to the World Wars. The focus is partly on men and women who served in the British and French Red Cross, some of the 'unsung heroes' of the wars.

James Blackburn Wilson (1888-1961) served in France with the ambulance service, he survived the war and returned to Alva to the family woollen manufacturing business. The exhibition includes photographs of Wilson tending wounded soldiers and letters to his parents.

Other material in the exhibition includes papers from the collection of Margot Cox (1905-1983) who served with the British Red Cross in Italy during the Second World War and was awarded a medal for distinguished war service.  There is also a fascinating sketch and poetry book created by soldier patients at Monifieth Red Cross Hospital during the First World War.

Archive Services holds many collections relating to hospitals in the area. The exhibition features material from the Bridge of Earn Hospital which was built by the Emergency Medical Service to treat war casualties. The papers include Department of Health information leaflets advising on what to do in the case of enemy attack and treating war wounds with penicillin.

Also on display are items from the Joseph Lee archive. Lee (1876-1949) was a journalist from Dundee who served in the First World War. He was an early war poet, who wrote about his experiences in the trenches and was published in the UK and overseas. He was captured and became a prisoner of war and the exhibition shows pages from the diaries that he wrote while in captivity.

The exhibition is on display outside the Archive Services’ searchroom and for more information please contact archives@dundee.ac.uk.

Jennifer Johnstone, Archive Services

Age of Revolution in the Archives

Over the next two weeks over 270 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, a hospital report 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 over the next fortnight. Some of the collections consulted 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/P The Thornton Collection of Manuscripts and Plans This collection 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

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 (East Linton, 1999)
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

Tom Craigie 1926-2011

The staff of ARMMS were very sad to hear that Tom Craigie, formerly a local businessman, died recently at the age of 84. Mr Craigie was a regular researcher for the past six years and with his keen sense of humour, friendliness and cheerful attitude he became one of our most popular readers. Indeed, he was practically part of the department, on occasion referring to us as his staff, while we, in turn, would threaten to ‘dock his wages’. Each Tuesday Mr Craigie would travel to the Archives from his home in Carnoustie and spend most of the day on his research. He would keep us posted on his movements so that we knew the days he wouldn’t be in – more often than not his absence was due to trips to Italy with his son and daughter-in-law. Each Christmas he kept us well supplied with shortbread and biscuits.

Mr Craigie first visited the archives a few years after the death of his wife. He was looking for a photograph of the old railway bridge that crossed the eastern end of Americanmuir Road where he and his wife had often met during their courting days back in the 1940s. Although no photograph could be found the search sparked his interest in the Dundee and Newtyle Railway Company. From that point on Mr Craigie became the Archives’ most regular reader over a period of six years, working methodically through our substantial Dundee and Newtyle collection.

His research also took him to the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh. He identified previously unseen archival material relating to the Dundee and Newtyle railway and Mr Craigie’s knowledge of the railway’s history was undoubtedly unparalleled; he spotted mistakes in leaflets or museum displays instantly. Ultimately his goal was to publish his research in a book that would certainly have cast new light on the history of the company.

Unfortunately Mr Craigie died before being able to do so, his death coming as a shock to the ARMMS staff. His absence from the search room will be keenly felt and he will be sadly missed by all. He will live on in our memories as a very special man.

Video from Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2011

Pat and Caroline were interviewed by Chris Paton of the Scottish GENES blog about our courses in Family and Local History at Who Do You Think You Are? Live last week. Chris posted the interview to YouTube and you can watch it below. His post about the interview is available here.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2011

Once again CAIS staff are on hand at Who Do You Think You Are Live at London Olympia to speak to people about their family and local history and the range of courses we offer to help them in their research, all by fully online distance learning. Come and see us at stand 708 or email us at ARMTraining@dundee.ac.uk for more information.

Building the CAIS stand on Thursday evening

Speaking to family and local historians on Saturday morning

Courses in Family and Local History

We've just finished a new advert for CAIS' courses in family and local history by online distance learning. This image will appear in the family history magazine Your Family History when it launches later this month.

As well as courses in family and local history CAIS also offers Masters Degrees in Archives, Records Management, Information Rights and Digital Preservation. For more information on any of CAIS' programmes please see our website or email us at ARMTraining@dundee.ac.uk.

WDYTYA 'Live' - Lunchtime, Day 2

In the same vein as yesterday our stand has been packed from the point that the doors opened. We think that we gave out close to 1,000 leaflets yesterday and today seems likely to surpass that. We're told that there are 7,500 people are here today.

Who Do You Think You Are 'Live' 2010 - Day 2

We're at Who Do You Think You Are 'Live' in Olympia speaking to people about their research and the archival sources that might help them go further. If you're coming to the show stop off and say hello. We're at stand 708.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2010

This weekend sees the UK's biggest annual genealogy event take place at Olympia in London and CAIS will be there. Who Do You Think You Are? Live takes place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and CAIS staff will be on hand to discuss research techniques, archival sources and the online courses in Family and Local History offered by CAIS.

The picture above is of our stand last year. This year we're at stand 708. If you see us stop off and say hello.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2010

We'll be returning to Who Do You Think You Are? Live for the fourth time early next year. This is the UK biggest annual family and local history conference and exhibition. Experts from CAIS will be there to meet people and chat to them about their experiences of doing research about their family or the area where they live, the sources they have used and the archival sources and research techniques that might help them go further.

We're really looking forward to the event at Olympia in February. We'll be at stand 708 and hope to meet you then. Meantime, the image to the left is a preview of our entry in the programme for the event, which we finalised today. To find out more about our courses in family and local history by online distance learning please take a look at our website (www.dundee.ac.uk/cais) or give us a call on +44(0)1382 385543. Remember to check back here from time to time too as we'll post updates on our plans for the event as they develop.