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Journal article
The tale of a Mesolithic harpoon head from Arisaig
This is a remarkable tale about a remarkable artifact that would have been lost to Scottish archaeology had it not been for a brave decision by a schoolgirl to disregard the views of her teachers over 50 years ago!Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Textiles in a Viking Age hoard: Identifying ephemeral traces of textiles in metal corrosion products
This paper presents a novel method and terminology to identify and describe textiles from ephemeral traces in metal corrosion products. Since the 1980s, mineralised textiles (positive and negative casts in Janaway’s terminology) have been an important source of archaeological evidence. A major issue now is the identification of textiles in...Davis, Mary ; Harris, Susanna
Textile , Mineralisation, Silver, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Microscopy, Copper corrosion, Viking age, and Anglo-Saxon
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Blog post
Time travelling at National Museums Scotland
As the clocks change back to Greenwich Mean Time and days shorten towards Winter Solstice, the sensation of passing time seems more acute than ever. A few days ago I visited our National Museums Collection Centre at Granton in North Edinburgh where time's disorientating effects are set out in concrete...Breward, Christopher
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Blog post
Conservation and conversation: What can a National Museum do about a global emergency?
The global environmental emergency – not only the climate crisis but also large-scale biodiversity loss – is the biggest challenge facing the world. With COP26 just days away, our Director, Chris Breward, reflects on the role we have to play, from understanding the past to improving our future.Breward, Christopher
Climate , Climate Change, Museums , and Sustainability
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Blog post
‘Woman’s dress of dark blue cotton, Ukraine, c.1880’: the complex reality behind a simple description
Alongside the human cost of conflict, the nihilistic destruction of centuries of historic heritage in Ukraine has provoked alarm, outrage and offers of support across the international museum sector. At the outset of hostilities, we looked to provide practical support where we could. For example, in the supply of wooden...Breward, Christopher
Dress , Russia , Ukraine, Embroidery , and Textiles
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Blog post
Inspiring body, mind and spirit
It’s been over two months since I wrote my last blog post and once again our museums are closed, but we look forward to re-opening and a life beyond lockdown.Breward, Christopher
LGBT History Month , Digital Media , Sculpture, LGBTQIA+, and Art And Design
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Journal article
The Cold War in European museums – filling the ‘empty battlefield’
Recent historical research has analysed the Cold War as an ‘imaginary war’, an interpretation that poses specific challenges for displaying the conflict in museums. In contrast to well-established representations of the First and Second World Wars in exhibitions, we find that the nature of the Cold War in Europe and...Alberti, Samuel J M M ; Nehring, Holger
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Journal article
Rethinking the Dark Age: the multiple voices of early medieval Britain
What do you picture when you think of the Dark Age. The common perception the phrase conjures is simple living and hardship. However, the sheer number of inscribed objects from this period paint another picture. Through new research methods, we are uncovering the multiple voices of early medieval Britain and...Maldonado, Adrián
literacy, Archaeology, Vikings, Symbols, Research Project, St Ninian's Isle Treasure, Glenmorangie, and Picts
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Book
Crucible of nations: Scotland from Viking Age to Medieval Kingdom
This third book from The Glenmorangie Company Research Project, following Early Medieval Scotland and Scotland’s Early Silver, will also appeal to readers of The Galloway Hoard. It takes a new look at National Museums Scotland collections covering the period 800-1200: the fall of the Pictish kingdoms and rise of the...Maldonado, Adrián
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Journal article
Not so hidden messages
The written word is a powerful and persuasive tool that can inspire and revolt in equal measure. Equally, jewellery has the power to spread messages and has been used for generations to declare an individual’s position of allegiance or defiance. By incorporating a message, slogan or symbol, a jewel becomes...Rothwell, Sarah
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Presentation
Ni’isjoohl memorial pole repatriation – an international panel discussion
The Nisga’a delegation, alongside staff from National Museums Scotland will participate in the first public panel discussion on the Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole re-p/matriation. The discussion will be moderated by Barbara Fillion, Programme Officer for Culture with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. Among the topics addressed, the panel will discuss the...Giblin, John ; St Clair Inglis, Chante
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Abstract
Return of the Space Hoppers - More measures on dH Comet G-BDIX
In 2018 National Museums Scotland (NMS) set a development in motion at its National Museum of Flight (NMoF) with the aim to display the three outdoor aircraft, Avro Vulcan XM597, BAC 1-11 GAVMO and de Havilland Comet G-BDIX indoors, the airliners in a new, environmentally controlled hangar and the Vulcan...Bürgel, Thilo
Aeroplane, Aviation, and Industrial
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Lecture
David Ramsay, the King’s Chief Clockmaker
This lecture is presented by Dr Tacye Phillipson (National Museums Scotland) and Dr John C. Taylor OBE (horologist and inventor), and delivered in conjunction with the National Museums Scotland. Dr Phillipson provides an overview of the variety and development of clockwork during the 17th century. Dr Taylor uncovers the innovation...Phillipson, Tacye ; Taylor, John C
David Ramsay, c1585-1660, master, Worshipful Clockmakers Company, London , Chief Clockmaker, clockwork , Scottish watchmaker, and King James I and VI
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Book chapter
Gas (CO2 ) laser, made in the Cambridge Department of Engineering, English, 1971 Wh.4560; Wh.4571
In 1971, lasers were novel and full of exciting potential. The first working lasers had been made in 1960, and carbon dioxide gas lasers, with their infrared beams invisible to the eye, were a particularly exciting development. They were the most powerful continuously operating lasers and could burn a hole...Phillipson, Tacye
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Collecting scholarship
Phillipson, Tacye
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Lecture
Celts: Art and Identity
Dr Fraser Hunter FSA Scot, Principal Curator, Iron Age & Roman Collections in the National Museums Scotland, presents a lecture on “Celts: Art and Identity” to coincide with the international exhibition on Celts held in the NMS in collaboration with the British Museum. The lecture was recorded on Monday 11...Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
We need to encourage a plurality of voices in collections-based research
Stories have too narrow a perspective, says John Giblin and Phoenix ArcherGiblin, John ; Archer, Phoenix
Exchange, African, Caribbean and South Asian diaspora heritage communities, Museology, Colonial Histories and Legacies, and Collections Research
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Journal article
History in the balance: a newly-discovered Anglo-Saxon runic inscription from Croy, Highland
A recent reassessment of the National Museums Scotland’s Viking-age collections revealed a new runic inscription from a previously overlooked scrap of copper alloy. The Croy Hoard is a mixed collection of objects deposited in the late 9th century AD, not far from what is now Inverness Airport. The Hoard was...Maldonado, Adrián
Old English rune, Viking-age collections, Anglo-Saxon runes, Early Medieval Scotland, Runic inscription, The Croy Hoard, and Bronze balance beam
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Blog post
Forewarned is forearmed: inside the hidden world of the Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps were a group of appointed civilians who manned bunkers across the country during the Cold War in case of nuclear attack. Luckily this never came to pass, and on the 30th anniversary of their stand down, Sarah Harper looks back at their important work.Harper, Sarah
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Journal article
The aspen hoverfly Hammerschmidtia ferruginea (Fallén)(Diptera, Syrphidae) in Deeside
After a gap of some 30 years the presence of the aspen hoverfly Hammerschmidtia ferruginea (Fallén, 1817), is confirmed in Deeside, Aberdeenshire. The methods used to re-establish the population are discussed.MacGowan, Iain
Hammerschmidtia ferruginea , population, aspen hoverfly , Diptera, cambium, and Syrphidae
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Technical documentation
William Jardine Papers
The Royal Scottish Museum holds a variety of manuscripts in the field of natural history. The largest collection belonged to J. A. Harvie-Brown and was deposited in this museum, with part of his library, after his death. Included in his collection were the William Jardine papers, and as a pilot...National Museums Scotland
naturalist, Index, Correspondence, John Alexander Harvie-Brown, exploration, Archives, Sir William Jardine, 1800-1874, Ornithology, and Salmon Fisheries Survey
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Journal article
Scleromochlus and the early evolution of Pterosauromorpha
Pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, were key components of Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems from their sudden appearance in the Late Triassic until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous1,2,3,4,5,6. However, the origin and early evolution of pterosaurs are poorly understood owing to a substantial stratigraphic and morphological...Foffa, Davide ; Dunne, Emma M ; Nesbitt, Sterling J ; Butler, Richard J ; Fraser, Nicholas C …
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Other
Alexander Robert Hutchieson – Finding List
Papers of Alexander Robert Hutchieson, Keeper of the Department of Technology, Royal Scottish Museum, from 1934 to 1957National Museums Scotland
Royal Scottish Museum, museum administration, Special Collections, Department of Technology, Staff, Archives, and Library
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Journal article
Provocation: Are museums relevant for social and environmental justice today?
JG: I work at National Museums Scotland. Our vision is 'inspiring people: addressing the challenges of our age'. Arguably, two of the most important of these challenges are social and environmental inequality. I've worked in or with museums for over twenty years. One of the reasons that I have done...Asante, Sheila ; Cummins, Nelson ; Giblin, John ; Loovers, Jan Peter Laurens
contemporary collecting, climate change, museology, colonial collections, museum, and curation
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Journal article
Rethinking practice, reimagining the future: climate, colonial collections and contemporary collecting
Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua (Māori proverb) (English Translation: I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past.) The Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) 2022 conference, Rethinking Practice, Reimagining the Future: Climate, Colonial Collections, and Contemporary Collecting, held at National Museums Scotland (NMS), was for many of...Giblin, John
climate change, museum, curation, colonial collections , contemporary collecting, and museology
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Abstract
Fractured mountains: quartz crystals and the Cairngorms
Dr Sarah Laurenson is Principal Curator of Modern and Contemporary History and Head of the Modern and Contemporary History Section. She is responsible for the Scottish collections representing cultural, social, political, military and domestic history from c.1750 to the present.Laurenson, Sarah
collections, Scottish material culture, mountains, fragmented objects , research, natural environment, and mineralogy
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Book
The material landscapes of Scotland’s jewellery craft, 1780-1914
During the long 19th century, Scotland was home to an established body of skilled jewellers who were able to access a range of materials from the country's varied natural landscape: precious gold and silver; sparkling crystals and colourful stones; freshwater pearls, shells and parts of rare animals. Following these materials...Laurenson, Sarah
contemporary collecting, crafts, precious metals, Scotland, jewellery, natural environment, and material culture
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Blog post
The Majestic and the Mundane the material culture of coronations
With the approaching coronation of King Charles III, Georgia Vullinghs, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary History, has been looking at our collections of coronation material. From batons of ceremony and containers for holy oils, to souvenir cups, handkerchiefs, and biscuit tins, this range of material performs an important function...Vullinghs, Georgia
Coronation, Royal History , Scottish History, Politics, and Collections
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Video
Museum Role Call: Calum Robertson
In our third episode of Museum Role Call, we surprised Calum in the National War Museum. Join us as we follow him around asking a bunch of random and not-so-random questions.National Museums Scotland
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Blog post
The Black Watch at National Museum of Scotland
Rosie Waine is the William Grant Foundation Research Fellow at the National Museum of Scotland. Here she writes how the Black Watch Museum & Castle collection contributed to the exhibition she has curated called Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland. -
Journal article
Collecting the nation in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1832–91
The sixty-year period from 1832 to 1891 was key to the development of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and its museum, during which time its collection was transferred to national ownership and greater emphasis began to be placed on social and cultural history. This article analyses acquisition data to... -
Blog post
Doctor Zoo: the real-world taxonomy behind Doctor Who's monsters and aliens
Mark Gatiss, in his narration for the Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder exhibition, astutely observes that the show is rooted in science. This is evident in its portrayal of alien life, including both monstrous creatures and humanoid allies. Dr. Vladimir Blagoderov, Principal Curator of Invertebrates, explores the expansive legendarium of...Blagoderov, Vladimir
Natural Sciences, Doctor Who Worlds Of Wonder , Invertebrate Biology , and Biology
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Journal article
QR codes can enrich a visit to a museum
Some museums want to ban them, while others see them as a low-cost way to connect visitors with contentCoulson, Adam
museums, QR code readers, quick response codes, exhibitions, and digital access
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Lecture
'The Viking-age Reuse of Insular Metalwork From Northern Britain'
The looting of Christian shrines and reliquaries in the Viking Age is so well-documented that it has been reduced to a cartoonish vision of pillaging heathens. A close look at the evidence for such ‘looting’ tells a different story – or rather a number of different stories. A recent reassessment... -
Video
Museum Role Call: Rachel Drury
MUSEUM ROLE CALL! In our second episode, we surprised Rachel in the Learning Centre. Join us as we follow her around asking a bunch of random and not-so-random questions.National Museums Scotland
workshops, handling collections, sessions, museum audiences, learning enabler, learning studios, and engagement
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Blog post
Winnie Drinkwater: the pioneering Scottish woman aviator
Scotswoman Winnie Drinkwater was not only the world’s first woman airline pilot but was also Scotland’s first woman to be a licensed aircraft engineer. Her achievements in the fledging aviation industry are even more remarkable since she made important inroads in a field with very few women. On the 100th...Brown, Ian
Aviation , Aviation History , and Civil Aviation
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Journal article
Two medieval pilgrim badges attributed to St Margaret, Queen of Scotland
Two late medieval lead-alloy badges found in Cambridgeshire, England, are argued here to belong to the cult of Saint Margaret of Scotland (r 1070–93). As such, they represent the first pilgrim souvenirs to be linked to this important Scottish saint, whose cultic centre was at Dunfermline, Fife, and for whom...Prosser, Lydia ; Webley, Robert
stray finds, saints’ cults , pilgrimage , Dunfermline, medieval , and pilgrim badge
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Journal article
Evolutionary trends in trimerellid brachiopods
Non-articulated trimerellides, one minor group among the largest brachiopods, are commonly found in massive monospecific accumulations in Ordovician and Silurian rocks. In this paper, all species of the family Trimerellidae are listed for the first time, and some of them are discussed. They appeared in the Sandbian and became extinct...Chen, Di ; Huang, Bing ; Candela, Yves
Morphospace, Trimerellids, Platform, Vault, and Cladistics
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Other
The Daniel Wilson Scrapbook Listing
Sir Daniel Wilson (1816-1892) was an archaeologist, author, antiquarian and Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland from 1845 - 1853). Wilson donated his scrapbook (which he referred to as his "Memorials of Auld Reekie") to the Society. It contains illustrations of Edinburgh and other material, some of which...National Museums Scotland
Archives, Leith, Edinburgh, Library, Memorials of Edinburgh in the olden time , Sir Daniel Wilson FSA (Scot) (January 5, 1816 – August 6, 1892), engravings, and Index
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Other
Alexander Archer Drawings Index
Alexander Archer was an amateur artist, resident in Edinburgh in the 1820s and 1830s. The library holds a collection of around 160 detailed pencil drawings by Archer of Edinburgh and the surrounding area featuring details such as the typical shops of the time, names of business owners and whole streets...National Museums Scotland
Edinburgh and Leith, Architectural drawing, Index, Alexander Archer, 19th century, artist, and Archive
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Lecture
Feasting with Latinus: the earliest Christians of Whithorn
The excavations led by the late Peter Hill at Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway are widely understood as revealing one of the earliest monasteries in Britain. New analysis and dating evidence by the Cold Case Whithorn project is forcing a rethink of the earliest phases of the sequence. A poorly-understood late... -
Presentation
Scottish Weapons: crafting and collecting identity
Join our conversation on the issues of provenance, repatriation, collections, and collecting practices, explored through the lens of material culture. This roundtable brings together researchers to discuss these topics as they pertain to the theme of object biographies from the experience of their various professional backgroundsRobertson, Calum
arms and armour , Scottish Weapons, crafting and collecting identity, national collections, and National War Museum Scotland
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Lecture
Re-framing Mary: audience-focused collecting and display
During the life of the RSE project, and following the acquisition of the Mary Queen of Scots casket, National Museums Scotland re-framed the narrative it tells of Mary in the Chambers Street museum. This talk explores the museum’s role in mediating narratives of Mary’s life and impact, to argue that...Groundwater, Anna
casket, material culture, Mary, Queen of Scots, and museum collecting, interpretation and display