December is a time for looking back at events which have happened during the year and looking forward with anticipation to the events which the new year might bring.
2015 has been a busy year for our archive service, with lots of opportunities to explore and promote the collections we hold which document the history of the Highlands.
We continue with our project to commemorate the centenary of the Great War which will continue through to 2018. In May, an exhibition and conference organised by Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre culminated in a weekend of events to coincide with the centenary of the Battle of Festubert. Other project activities have included war memorial projects for primary school children, investigative sessions for secondary schools, an online WW1 school resource, a series of talks on fallen heroes from the Highlands, and “Your WW1 Ancestors” family history research courses.
2015 also marked a much older anniversary: the 300th anniversary of the Jacobite Rising and siege of Inverness in 1715, one of several failed Jacobite Risings before the final, disastrous Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746. The event was part of the wider Explore Your Archives campaign, an annual event held in November for Archives across the UK to showcase the unique potential of archives to excite people, bring communities together, and tell amazing stories. The day was a great success and we are working to bring you more events like this in 2016.
Events such as these require us to explore in depth the very rich archive collections we hold, and often expose episodes which are relatively unknown in Highland history. Earlier this year the Highland Archive Centre was involved in Landscapes and Lifescapes, an interdisciplinary and collaborative project with several universities and other bodies, to identify the links forged between the Highlands and slavery in the Caribbean.
Provided with the opportunity to undertake extensive research as part of the project, we uncovered a large family network stretching across the Highlands with corresponding links to the Caribbean, giving an insight into the Highlanders who staffed the plantations, the life they experienced there and the money that was remitted back to the Highlands which went to fund improvement projects for Highlanders including Inverness Royal Academy, Tain Royal Academy and Inverness Royal infirmary, all of which were built on the back of fundraising and subscriptions, many of which came directly from the profits of slavery.
Looking to the future, we are preparing for the relocation of our Caithness Archive Centre into the National Nuclear Archive, currently being built in Wick. The nuclear facility is designed to house 30 million digital, paper and photographic records dating back to the birth of the nuclear industry in the UK and will become the principal archive facility for the UK’s civil nuclear industry. The opportunity to relocate the Caithness Archive Collections to this new, purpose built, facility, will allow us to greatly expand the services we are able to offer to the public. The facility is on schedule to be handed over to the contractors next summer, with our relocation to commence in the months that follow.
In 2016 we plan to continue to strengthen our offering with engaging events, classes and displays which will excite, inform and encourage you to further explore the unique history of the Highlands.
Finally, can I take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Alison Mason. Highland Archivist
