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Newspaper article
How contemporary collecting will show future generations who we are
A big part of the National Museum of Scotland’s mandate is to acquire new artefacts, not least in the area of sustainability and climate change to help inspire and engage those who visit, writes Dr Ellie SwinbankSwinbank, Ellie
Sustainability strategy , climate change , biodiversity loss, cutting-edge developments, National Museums Scotland, contemporary collecting , and museum collections
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Lecture
Waking the Dead: Inside the insect collection at National Museums Scotland
The phrase “insect collection” often conjures up images of Victorian naturalists chasing down rare butterflies with their nets and attaches a stigma to these important resources. The insect collections held in our museums are a vital resource for understanding how species are related to one another and how they are...Whiffin, Ashleigh
curatorial role, scientific research, insect collections, entomological specimens, National Museums Scotland, and National Museums Collection Centre
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Lecture
Collecting and Curating Southeast Asian Art: In Conversation
This conversation between the two curators, Alexandra Green and Rosanna Nicolson, celebrates two exhibitions focusing on Southeast Asian art–“Burma to Myanmar” and “Theravada Buddhism”–concurrently showing at The British Museum and at National Museums of Scotland respectively. It highlights issues related to the formation of Asian art collections in the UK,... -
Journal article
Dr Allen David Cumming Simpson, 13 December 1947-3 December 2022
Allen Simpson was born in Edinburgh, went to school there, attended the University of Edinburgh, worked there, married and raised a family, and finally died there. He worked at what eventually became National Museums Scotland between 1970 to 1998, as an Assistant Keeper, and subsequently, Curator and Principal Curator in...Morrison-Low, Alison
curatorial research, Scottish weights and measures, Science & Technology, obituary, National Museums Scotland, Department of Technology, and Royal Museum of Scotland
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Conference paper (unpublished)
South Asia in a former Second City of Empire: Reimagining the South Asian Collection at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland
In this paper, we analyse fifteen years of curatorial work with the South Asian collection at the NMoS. From 1854, the museum reflected Edinburgh’s position as a second city of Empire. For many decades, visitors entered the museum building through a copy of the eastern gate of the Great Stupa... -
Conference paper (unpublished)
Impact of the Library & Archive of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland on Scotland’s national collections
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Conference paper (unpublished)
“Endangered Crafts: Documenting Shu Making in Chitral, Northern Pakistan“
This paper is concerned with issues related to the documentation of endangered crafts. It takes as an example an ethnography which aims to understand and record over two years the weaving of shu, a type of woollen cloth characteristic of the region of Chitral in northern Pakistan, for which the... -
Abstract
The ‘Pre-Disciplinary’ Early African Collections of the National Museums Scotland
The African collection of the National Museums Scotland (NMS) is one of the oldest in Britain, because it contains assemblages from two other Edinburgh institutions that were founded well before NMS’ own launch in 1854 as The Industrial Museum of Scotland. The earliest of these contributing institutions was the University... -
Lecture
The Challenges of a Photography Curator
Geoff Belknap is Keeper of the Department of Science and Technology at National Museums Scotland. His talk will offer some ‘behind the scenes’ evidence of the challenges and considerations that have to be borne in mind when caring for a national collection. He has unparalleled experience of working with photography,...Belknap, Geoffrey
photography collections, National Museums Scotland, and conservation
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Journal article
Museum during a crisis
These are strange times. As I write this (16th March 2020), the number of coronavirus or rather Covid-19 infections is rapidly increasing and I am uncertain whether our Museum, the National Museum of Scotland (NMoS), will even be open to the public this time next week. This 160 year old...Walcott, Rachel
Coronavirus, National Museums Scotland, National Museum of Scotland, and Covid-19
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Journal article
Projecting the Museum: moving images in, and of, Scotland's national museum
The century-long engagement of museums with the moving image is examined through a case study of its deployment by National Museums Scotland (inclusive of its predecessor organisations the Royal Scottish Museum and the Royal Museum of Scotland). The study engages the academic genres of film studies and museum studies to...Swinney, Geoffrey N
Cinema, television, video, film, Royal Scottish Museum, National Museums Scotland, and historical geography
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Journal article
George Wilson's Map of Technology: giving shape to the ‘industrial arts’ in mid-nineteenth-century Edinburgh
An intriguing symbol adorns the grave, in Edinburgh's Old Calton Burial Ground, of George Wilson (1818–1859), Britain's first Professor of Technology. Wilson himself had devised the symbol as an emblem for the Industrial Museum of Scotland of which he was Director. In his professorial role he defined and delineated the...Swinney, Geoffrey N
technological education, Industrial Museum of Scotland, National Museums Scotland, geographies of science, collections, and teaching