In partnership with Edinburgh Libraries, the Club has launched a project to create a digital catalogue of the manuscript collection held by the Edinburgh and Scottish Collection in the Central Library.
This little-known archive has a fascinating and eclectic range of documents relating to the history of the city. There is currently a card index but it provides scant indication of the contents of each item.
We have established the Jean Butchart Bursary, which has involved a grant of £1,500 plus a modest top-up for conservation work for the manuscripts most in need of preservation. The first Bursary was awarded in September 2023 to Matthew Ferrie, a post-graduate student from the University of Strathclyde who had recently completed a Masters in Information and Library Studies. He also has BA honours in History from the University of Stirling.
Matthew Ferrie
Matthew (pictured right) said: “I grew up in Falkirk, an area steeped in Scottish history, and I was raised on stories about our role in the Scottish wars of independence, our importance to the industrialisation of Scotland, and all the other weird little local tales you’re not likely to come across elsewhere.
“From a young age this sparked a deep passion for local history that has never left me. I am therefore honoured and excited to be granted this opportunity to help the Old Edinburgh Club in making local history materials more easily accessible to all. The manuscript archive of Edinburgh Central Library offers a trove of fascinating documents charting the local history of Edinburgh going back centuries, covering everything from documents that recount the evolving architectural history of the city to letters and diaries that offer insight into the personal and social lives of its residents.
“I’m so passionate about this I cannot overstate how grateful I am to be receiving the Jean Butchart Bursary. The generosity of the club – and Jean Butchart, of course – is astounding and I can’t wait to get started in earnest. I am sure this work will help deepen our understanding and enjoyment of the city’s history and heritage.”
Next steps
Matthew’s time on the Bursary has now ended, and the Library Service is determined to complete the cataloguing project in 2024 using in-house resources and the support of another postgraduate student from Strathclyde.
The OEC continues to be involved in the project, collaborating in promoting updates, particularly interesting finds, here and via our social media channels. See the Updates at the bottom of this page for short reports on these.
Jean Butchart, benefactor
Our benefactor Jean Butchart had a great interest in Edinburgh history and was a member of the Old Edinburgh Club for many years. She was determined to honour the work of her father, who was City Librarian from 1942 until 1953 and author of Prints and Drawings of Edinburgh (1955). He believed this collection, held in the Edinburgh Room of the Central Library constituted the “finest collection in existence of topographical and historical prints of the City.”
Miss Butchart presented her father’s own collection to the Library Service. This later featured as an exhibition in its own right.
She previously funded the digitisation of the Old Series of the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, and the name of the bursary recognises her lifelong connection with Edinburgh Libraries.
An article on the project is also available on the Edinburgh Libraries website.
Watch the video below for her introduction to the exhibition.
Updates
Cataloguing the Edinburgh and Scottish manuscript collection: a collaboration with the Old Edinburgh Club – part one: featuring ‘A Journey to Edenborough in Scotland’, written in 1705 by Joseph Taylor, an English barrister and later Member of Parliament.
Cataloguing the Edinburgh and Scottish manuscript collection: a collaboration with the Old Edinburgh Club – part two: notes, photographs and newspaper clippings relating to the history and architecture of Queensberry House, compiled in the 1920s by Charles Boog Watson, a historian and member of the Old Edinburgh Club.
Cataloguing the Edinburgh and Scottish manuscript collection: a collaboration with the Old Edinburgh Club – part three: more on the research of Boog Watson, notably his in-depth research on Edinburgh streets and places, with sketches, newspaper clippings and family trees.
Cataloguing the Edinburgh and Scottish manuscript collection: a collaboration with the Old Edinburgh Club – part four: ‘Notes on Acheson House’ in the Canongate, compiled by John Harris, the clerk of works on the restoration of the building in the 1930s.
Cataloguing the Edinburgh and Scottish manuscript collection: a collaboration with the Old Edinburgh Club – part five: an example of family papers held in the collection, those of Robert Adam, City Chamberlain and Accountant in the mid-19th century.