A Year in the Life of a Community Archive: Museum of Scottish Railways Archive

Finding a place at the Museum of Scottish Railways: Ian Doig reflects on his journey from enthusiast and donor to Trustee 

At MoSR, our staff, volunteers, Collections Committee and Trustees work shoulder to shoulder to ensure the objects we hold on behalf of the people of Scotland will be safe for generations to come.   

When not busy with matters of governance, most of our Trustees can be found out on the site, helping our visitors and caring for our Collections.  John L. and Kevin look after our operational locomotives.  Elspeth is a familiar face front of house in the Museum, whilst Chairman John F. is a more familiar pair of legs and work boots since he is most often to be found under our fleet of historic wagons.  Others energetically collaborate with other railway organisations, give talks, and engage in outreach with collectors and enthusiasts.  Each does their part to ensure that Scotland’s railway heritage is understood and continues to inspire the future.  As has always been the case on the ‘real’ railway, we are a close knit team united by our shared task, and everyone is happy to roll up their sleeves to make progress. 

In this blog, Ian Doig, one of our newest Trustees and a tireless advocate for our small objects and archive, recalls how he found his place at MoSR thanks to a 136 year old staff ledger and a chance meeting with Assistant Curator Vicky at the 2022 Scottish Line Societies conference in Perth. 

Ian’s story 

“My interests include social history of railways. I am interested in the huge changes railways made to society, including widening travel-to-work job opportunities, holiday destinations and social travel, including expanding the genes pool, since before railways, people seldom travelled wider than 15 miles from their birthplace throughout their lives – railways changed all that!  

“I was delighted to rescue for the Railway Museum a hand-written staff ledger of the Caledonian Railway’s St Rollox Locomotive Works, covering 1888 to 1893. This ledger documents every employee, their trades, starting and leaving dates, and differential rates of pay. Also, reasons for leaving, including promotion, “slackness”, negligence, insolence, insubordination”, drunkenness, fighting, “causing agitation”, “on strike” denoted in red ink, injured or killed in accidents, and intriguingly “dismissed as unsatisfactory”.  

“This fragile ledger was gifted to me by a lady whose father worked there; she thought it was of historical interest but didn’t know how or where it could be preserved.” 

After arranging a visit to the archive and a further chat with Vicky, Ian chose to donate both the book and his time to the Collection.  We are so grateful for both.   

Providing digital access with a little help from our friends at the Caledonian Railway Association 

The 194 pages of the Staff book (BONSR 2022.4812) have now been digitised, and the 8000+ names contained therein have been transcribed thanks to the extraordinary diligence of David Blevins of the Caledonian Railway Association.  Blevins’ CR Staff List contains a further 30,000+ names and is an invaluable resource for family historians.  It can be downloaded for review here. 

The 2024 Scottish Line Societies Conference will take place this autumn.  MoSR will be showcasing our archival Collections on the day  and will be sharing more news about the event later this year. 

Back to Basics: Hierarchical Cataloguing workshop with Miriam Buncombe 

The Museum of Scottish Railways is a member of Industrial Museums Scotland: a collaborative group of heritage organisations who work together to ensure that Scotland’s industrial past is safeguarded as a resource to inspire the future.  In October, 2023, Miriam Buncombe of the Scottish Council on Archives opened up a portal to fresh opportunities for MoSR when she presented her new online hub, ‘Your Scottish Archives’, to the IMS Collections group. 

Recognisable challenges 

The ‘Your Scottish Archives’ portal, which replaces SCAN, aims to make as many stories as possible available to the public.  However, Miriam’s team had observed that industrial repositories were underrepresented on the platform, and that collections held in such places were often private and not easily accessible.  These findings highlight a challenge that has become increasingly pressing at MoSR since 2007. 

Upward trend in records acquisitions 

In their 2007 survey, NRAS recorded 6 named archives of note in the MoSR Collection. This total has grown significantly in intervening years.  We currently hold 36 significant personal and technical collections and 90% of all acquisitions annually are classified as records. The upward trend in archival acquisitions shows no sign of slowing. 

Delivering access 

Much of our accessioned archival material is well documented at item level and available through the museum’s collections database.  However, accessing intellectual order from a flat list is difficult and does not fully support user needs.  Added to this, many new acquisitions remain uncatalogued.  We are a small team of mostly volunteers and describing item by item is a time consuming process.  By contrast, a top down approach would allow us to provide meaningful access more efficiently, share finding aids to improve discovery, and allow the voices contained in our Collections to be heard.  When Miriam offered to upskill our team in hierarchical cataloguing, it was seen as the first step in a very positive direction. 

Workshop day at Bo’ness 

Miriam braved the high winds on 1st February to facilitate an informal workshop for our Collections team. Over morning coffee, she gently introduced us to the basics of archival arrangement and standardised description. We had the opportunity to ask plenty of questions and to work through real world examples supported by helpful, user friendly resources. 

Everyone felt that the guidance was realistic and reassuringly non prescriptive.  Volunteer Chris reports: 

“I approached this course apprehensively. The worry was that we would be faced with a rigid system to which we had to fit our existing records. That would mean a great deal of work. 

It was rapidly apparent that such worries were absolutely groundless. Miriam was there, not to tell us how to organise our archives, but to help us make them accessible.  The value of a collection is only realised when the collection is used for productive purposes. Making catalogues available in the go-to place for such things is just what we need to make our collections more widely known and better used.  

Thanks are due to Miriam. Her training was well paced, logically structured, clearly delivered, informative and enthusing.” 

We all echo Chris’ thanks and look forward to contributing to ‘Your Scottish Archives’ across the year. 

Coming up 

In our next blog, Assistant Curator Vicky puts our new skills to work to catalogue the Scottish papers of BR railwayman and long serving Chairman of the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, Hugh Gould, to coincide with Director Becky’s talk to the group this month.   

At the start of the month, Miriam Buncombe, Project Manager ‘Your Scottish Archives’ visited Bo’ness to train our collections volunteers in archival cataloguing.  Here I will outline how I catalogued the Hugh Gould Collection (GB/3657/HGOU) and reflect on what I have learned from the process. 

Background to the Collection 

Gould was a career railwayman.  He spent holidays from Glasgow University, where he studied music, as a porter at Drumchapel, in the signal box at Glasgow Green, and later as a passenger guard, learning the roads around Scotland and his way around the travelling public.   

Though accepted as a traffic apprentice in 1956, he chose to defer, continuing to work for a further two years as a guard at Glasgow Queen Street, a place he described as “full of characters”*.  After management training, he became Stationmaster at Burntisland from 1960 until 1962, when he moved south to progressively more prominent roles in London, the Western Region, and Wales. 

Extent 

MoSR has acquired Gould’s created and collected Scottish operational papers and related objects.  3 box files of analogue materials arrived in 3 batches between 2022 and 2024 courtesy of Mike Hill, formerly of the BR Southern Region) and Jim Summers, former Chief Operator ScotRail**.  These were box listed on entry. 

Ordering and appraisal 

Much of the material arrived bundled in original envelopes and folders that indicated original order. The A. Hugh Gould Collection arrived usefully bundled in original envelopes and folders.  These bundles were used to define distinct series in the hierarchy.  These groupings helped to define the catalogue series.   

Gould’s time as a Traffic Apprentice is particularly well represented through typescript reports. These observe small details that altered the way that route ran and so changed the experience of millions of people.  Chronological order was retained to reflect Gould’s growing confidence through his training period. 

Another cohesive set documents relate to the Queen’s visit to Stirling in 1971.  The records demonstrate the complexity of the operation and detail the names and roles of the many people involved.  The folder contained operational documentation referred to in the correspondence.  These were retained as part of the series. 

Timetables and leaflets not demonstrating administration use were moved to MoSR’s general Operational Documentation Collection with notes connecting individual items to the custodial history field of the catalogue serving to preserve conceptual links. 

Finished catalogue 

Users can now access each individual record and see how it relates to the whole collection.  How and why the material was acquired (the context) is intact in other levels of the hierarchy. 

Reflections 

Perhaps because of his musical background, Gould seemed to have a natural appreciation of the small details and the individual people that made up the rhythms of life on the lines as he knew them.  His papers record noteworthy names found elsewhere in our Collection, but also myriad ordinary people through whose daily effort the vibrancy and diversity of railway life can be glimpsed.   

A collection becomes more than the sum of its parts when viewed collectively.  Gould is one of many people that the story of Scotland’s railways couldn’t have happened without.  However, his papers record, and give access to, countless others to whom the same debt is owed.  The catalogue, now available to researchers, will help those voices be heard. 

Coming up 

Another effective way to connect to diverse voices in Collections is through oral histories.  In March, we practise interviewing techniques with Dr Alison Chand, and introduce our new oral history program in partnership with the Retired Railway Officers of Scotland which looks to reveal the many ways that railway networks have connected and shaped Scotland’s places and people. 

Notes: 

* Gould, H. “The Glasgow Area in the Post-war Years”; talk to the Friends of the National Railway Museum South of England Group, 17-11-1997 (https://nrmfriends-south.org.uk/filestore/FNRMS_ViewArchiveItem.php?arctype=LEC&arcdate=1997-11-17)  

** Summers’ own extensive collection is also held by our archive (GB/3657/JSUM).   

Copyright statement 

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material in this blog for which you have not given permission, or is not covered by a limitation or exception in national law, please contact us directly at museum@srps.org.uk or call us on 01506 825855. 

Oral History training with Alison Chand, OHS 

MoSR volunteers had the opportunity to participate in an Oral Histories training session with Dr Alison Chand of the Oral History Society in March.   

This fully funded and accredited opportunity was generously provided through the Scottish Council on Archives.  Their support enabled us to upskill our team in advance of the roll out of two major new oral histories projects – the first to capture the volunteer voices of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, and the second to record the personal reminiscences of the men and women who ran Scotland’s Railways in association with the Retired Railway Officers of Scotland. 

Alison demonstrated traditional recording practices, and also the latest methods in remote recording using conference platforms and mobile phones.  There were plenty of practical opportunities, with everyone getting to take on the roles of interviewer and interviewee at various points throughout the day.   

With our questions asked, and our memories shared, we found we had gained a far greater insight into the complex oral historian’s art and had learned more about our teammates in the process.  We had also discovered that setting up our recorders just across the tracks from a running diesel engine was not the ideal choice of location! 

Feedback from the day 

Kevin Woods, a volunteer in our Monday Squad and Carriage & Wagon Departments, had this to say: 

 “The presentation was very thorough and very well pitched for an audience with a varied experience of interviewing and editing comment. The practice sessions were especially valuable and enabled us to refine our approaches to this form of methodology and to visualise the range of difficulties that may be facing us.  

The presenter used excellent exemplars throughout and took a very practical approach to the topic.  A thoroughly appropriate training day.” 

James Hendrie, who volunteers in the MoSR archive, adds that the session was a “[g]reat day spent discussing the art of oral history interviewing in the company of others who, like me, appreciate the need to capture stories from the many interesting and knowledgeable railway people associated with the SRPS and the wider railway community”. 

We are so grateful to Alison and to SCA for making this wonderful day possible. 

Coming up 

Later this year, James will be interviewing SRPS volunteer George Lumsden, who hails from a railway dynasty, and whose extensive collection of family papers MoSR has been lucky enough to acquire. 

In our next blog, Assistant Curator Vicky gives a taste of the treasures to be found in this collection when she draws back the lace curtains of the station house to explore domestic life on the railway with the help of Isabella Lumsden. 

The papers of Isabella Lumsden: new perspectives on domestic life in Scotland’s station houses 

In March 1994, Stationmaster’s wife Isabella Lumsden recorded in a letter to Dr Ian Scrimgeour that “[f]or some time now, I have been endeavouring to write up my impressions and memories of the railway houses we have lived in”. 30 years later (nearly to the day), this letter, along with her recollections, have been donated to the Museum of Scottish Railways by her son, SRPS volunteer George Lumsden.  They now form part of the Lumsden Family papers. 

Here, Assistant Curator Vicky draws back the lace curtains of the station house to explore domestic life on the railway and gives a taste of the treasures to be found in this extensive and fascinating collection. 

Depictions of the railway station complex 

The Station Master is the centre of station life in the majority of official accounts, letters, and photographs depicting the theme.  He is commonly photographed on the platform, uniformed and surrounded by his staff.  He is the man (inevitably a man until recently) who keeps things moving, and who, himself, is regularly in motion.  An ambitious employee in this position could expect to be moved around the railway network regularly, relocating his family and possessions to a new station house every few years. 

By contrast, the station house and its occupants are often depicted as somewhat separate, or peripheral to the main business of station life.  At Lochearnhead, the family sit within the perimeter fence, physically divided from the Station Master standing on the road outside, and from the rails visible on the right from the house.  At Redcastle, we assume the presence of a wife and mother behind the picket fence, but it is impossible to glimpse behind the opaque white drapes that screen the interior.  At Conon, Station Master Morrison’s wife and mother-in-law are visible and the door to the station house is open, but the image is fixed in time and the subjects are silent. 

In all cases, the Station Master is the active presence within the scene while domestic life is out of sight, contained, its occupants all too easily read as subject to the railway’s agency and a volition outside their control.   

A new perspective on the station house 

Another photo, taken circa 1947, gives us a different perspective on the station house and its inhabitants.  The image shows Ladysbridge station, then under the control of Stationmaster Richard Lumsden.  It captures an orderly operation with evidence of productive activity.  The main focus, however, is elsewhere. Positioned in the centre foreground is a neat, tied cottage with flower bordered lawns.  Left of the gable end is a lace trimmed baby carriage sitting in the sun.  The composition gives us a sense of being behind the fence, privy to backyard activities and intimate details of daily life.   

This image was taken by Isabella Lumsden, Richard’s wife and mother of SRPS volunteer George, the donor of MoSR’s newly acquired Lumsden Family Papers, and the former occupant of the baby carriage.  It is part of a unique series of records that document her life and experiences as a Station Master’s wife in the 1940s/50s.   

Isabella’s collection includes personal reminiscences, images and inventories of things and places. Read together the documents provide a vivid account of the material realities of repeatedly remaking home in various station houses. Her descriptions of everyday interiors, furnishings, and domestic things throw open the doors of these seldom-seen spaces for re-examination. 

Homes set in motion 

Isabella’s early reminiscences give us a sense of the station house, not as a static site on the borders of the action, but as a mobile entity capable of ‘flitting’ in less than a week.  Isabella vividly describes the “crackling sense of excitement” and personal activity that precedes the couple’s move to Ladysbridge: 

“I had less than a week to obtain furnishing and furniture dockets. Fortunately, during the past three years I had been buying good furniture and storing it. Now was the moment to tell the storage firm that I would require it out of store, and examined to see that it was still all in good order. A friend of mine in the Drapery trade had advised me  . . “Sheets! Apply for twin beds and bedding, I know that you have 2 large double beds. Your dockets can be used for double size sheets as well as single ones. Curtaining was next, an allowance of 16 square yards. Again I had bought odd lengths of heavy curtaining before rationing had begun. I was also fortunate to get a wringer with stand. That was a must! At times I was up to my elbows packing crockery and sticking labels on boxes thinking “have I allowed for everything?  No I hadn’t . . . we had NO electricity, so the lovely iron we had received as a wedding gift had to be packed away and I dashed along to the ironmongers to buy a gas iron and a McKellar girdle, plus 2 mousetraps.” 

Engaged in buying, storing, examining, packing, sticking, the Station Master’s wife is no passive subject in the move but is rather “dashing along” at an impressive rate.  Her lists of objects and tasks have their own energetic ordering power and forward motion.   

Later, on the journey to Ladysbridge, Isabella recalls: 

“Early May was simply glorious that year 1946, and the countryside had never looked better. As I had always enjoyed travelling, I really appreciated the journey North. When I arrived, around tea time the ‘Flitting’  [a railway van provided to move personnel between station houses] had arrived and everything was in its place. I only had to the curtains to put up”. 

Here we encounter a woman who relishes her own mobility and the connectedness her life as part of the railway family affords her. The curtains she puts up to finish making her home at Ladysbridge are not silent barriers, closing her off from the action outside her window, but take on life, agency, and social meaning from being bought, packed, unrolled, and hung. 

Networked objects  

Later on, those same curtains are moved to Riccarton Junction where they are reinvented in the “huge” living spaces of a new station house, hanging inadequately in rooms with 12 ½ feet high ceilings beside protruding hooks  – “a relic from the past when a Station Master kept a pig and hung the various quarters on high to cure!”   

Objects have the power to sustain stable connections between people even if those people have moved on. How meaning changes through juxtaposition with other objects, object circulation, what gets repurposed, and what gets left behind, offer much valuable food for thought for the student of material culture. 

Conclusion 

Isabella’s memories of her station homes and their material contents provide a unique perspective on the traditional view of the station house. Her observations challenge the notion of a passive domestic space that is somehow separate from the actions and agency found on the platform.  Rather, she describes a place rich with social connections, born from the literal mobility of the railway, but sustained by people and things. 

The Lumsden Family Papers are currently being catalogued by MoSR’s collections volunteers. 

George Lumsden will discuss his railway family and experience of growing up in station houses as part of MoSR’s Oral History series. 

Coming up 

In April, our theme is growing in new directions and making new connections. Across the month we will highlight how our archive is intrinsically connected to, and engaged with, our wider community in ways that people may not realise.  

In advance of Great Big Green Week 2024 (8-16 June) we travel up the line to Birkhill Station with volunteer archive assistant and licensed bird ringer (British Trust for Ornithology) Chris to explore how the unique resources found along our heritage railway can help people connect with natural spaces within their own communities and document their discoveries for the benefit of future generations. 

Later in the month, we report on our acquisition of the Dugald Cameron fine art collection. We consider the ethics of acquiring and providing for a collection outwith our traditional expertise, consider how to provide suitable storage and access on a tight budget, and discuss the benefits of working together with partners and the wider heritage community to develop our skills and knowledge. 

Copyright statement 

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material in this blog for which you have not given permission, or is not covered by a limitation or exception in national law, please contact us directly at museum@srps.org.uk or call us on 01506 825855. 

Biodiversity at Bo’ness – celebrate Great Big Green Week at the Museum of Scottish Railways 

In advance of Great Big Green Week 2024 (8-16 June) we explore how the natural resources found along our heritage railway can help us plan for the future and invite people to connect with the natural spaces in their own communities and document their discoveries for the benefit of future generations. 

So much more than train spotting 

Here at Bo’ness, you can spot so much more than trains… 

The 10km long Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway passes through a landscape filled with natural treasures.  The mudflats off the foreshore, best viewed from the footbridge at Bo’ness, are an internationally important site for seabirds.   

Kinneil Halt is the starting point from which to explore the extensive public spaces of the wildflower meadows, grasslands, and woodlands of the formerly industrial Kinneil nature reserve.   

At Birkhill station, you will sometimes spot deer on the tracks, while birds of prey, finches and tits are frequent visitors to the peaceful wooded areas of the former clay mine.   

Our volunteers protect lineside environments by actively managing trees, flora and fauna, and developing our stations as green spaces.  Look more closely at our platform gardens, buildings, boundary hedges, and picnic area bug hotel, and you will our site is buzzing, brimming and blooming with life.    

Nest box surveys and new arrivals 

In late March, MoSR volunteer archive volunteer Chris du Feu temporarily laid aside his cataloguing of the Forbes Alexander Signalling Collection and took a trip along the line to Birkhill Station.  As a licensed bird ringer, and official verifier of slug records for the Conchological Society of Britain & Ireland, he undertook to observe our lineside nest boxes for signs of new additions to the Bo’ness family.    

His ongoing observations will be submitted to the national Nest Record Scheme [link: https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/nest-record-scheme] and recorded in the archive of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, managed by the Museum of Scottish Railways. This will help us better understand and protect the natural landscape we, and many other living things, call home.  The information we collect will help inform our programme for work for 2024/25.   

Chris has recently recorded 2 pairs of wrens and 3 pairs of blue tits nesting in our boxes.  Their young will have fledged a little before Great Big Green Week on 8-16 June . Look out for young wrens and blue tits around the stations and see if any of them have a ring on one leg.  We invite you and your family to get out and about on that week and explore with them! 

Great Big Green Week (8th-16th June) 

The Great Big Green Week is the UK’s biggest ever celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature.  Come and be a part of our work to document the biodiversity of our community.   

Collect an official Observer’s sheet, devised by Chris, from the Museum or Station platform and record what you see in the sky, on the ground and in the trees as you move around our site.  How many different kinds of flowers, plants, insects, birds and animals do you share our green spaces with?  

Don’t forget to submit your record to Museum staff before you leave!  There will be a wild prize, and a place in our Recorders’ archive, for everyone who takes part. 

Coming up 

Chris’ duties in the MoSR archive include documenting the photographic records contained in the Forbes Alexander Signalling Collection.  In May, we share exciting news of a new benefactor whose kind support will ensure that this unique set of papers will be accessible to the public before the end of the year. 

Final destination approaching – a new benefactor for the Forbes Alexander Signalling Collection sets the team steaming ahead towards the end of a 15 yearlong cataloguing project 

Dr Neil K. Dickson has indicated that he is prepared to donate a considerable sum to make the Forbes Alexander Collection accessible to the public.  

[Image 1: Neil Dickson (donor) copyright Neil K Dickson] 

The man behind the donation, in his own words: 

“I have been interested in railways in general, and railway signalling in particular, for many years. It started with my parents giving me the Thomas the Tank Engine books, and with me walking over a railway bridge in Edinburgh every day to and from school. My interest continued through my student years at St Andrews and Oxford, and my career as a university lecturer at Glasgow, but work pressures reduced the time available. On getting early retirement, I developed a second part-time career as a charity accountant, but also had more time to pursue my railway interests. When Forbes Alexander’s unique and valuable collection of signalling records was donated to the Scottish Railway Preservation Society in Bo’ness, I was among the first to volunteer to help organise and catalogue it. By then my wife and I were living in Kelso, which caused me to withdraw from volunteering once other volunteers living nearer Bo’ness took on the work. 

My wife and I are now fully retired and have moved to Salisbury in Wiltshire. I have been writing a series of railway articles. They include photographs from the Forbes Alexander Collection. I was able to do that because I had worked on the collection and knew it contained relevant material. This caused me to ask about the SRPS’s plans to complete the cataloguing of the collection and give it the publicity and accessibility that it deserves. I was pleased to learn that there are well-developed plans to do just that. Progress was however severely constrained by lack of resources. I am delighted to be able to make a donation to accelerate the work.” 

How will the investment benefit the Collection? 

Investing in our people – Neil’s generosity will allow us to offer one of our existing volunteers a paid role as a cataloguer and advocate for the Collection.  As we work towards our goal to become a nationally recognised Signalling Centre of Excellence, we will need key people with the passion and know-how to drive the project forward.  Investing in our people now is an excellent way to ensure the Collection is accessible and well cared for in the long term. 

[Image 2:Forbes Alexander copyright Harry Archibald] 

Improving our research facility – As the Alexander Collection becomes more visible to the public, we anticipate an uptick in research interest.  Neil’s donation will assist us in making small improvements to our existing collections store that will render the space better suited for visitors to come and review the objects.   

A huge thanks is due, not only to Neil but also to MoSR’s dedicated Signalling volunteers – Alec Inglis, Robert Dey, Jim Summers, and Chris du Feu, whose expertise and enthusiasm have inspired such valuable support.  Thank you all sincerely for everything you do. 

If any member would like to get involved in cataloguing the Forbes Alexander Collection, or in any other aspect of the work we do in Links Court, please contact Vicky (vicky.kerrigan@srps.org.uk).  We would be delighted to hear from you. 

Coming up 

Throughout May we will be preparing for Volunteer Week 2024 and sharing some of the many exciting activities our volunteers are involved with, onsite and further afield thanks to partner projects. 

Powering our people with the help of our partners – Kiara King reflects on the benefits of partner working between museums and archives and how volunteers, working together, can improve organisational practices across the heritage sector. 

During Volunteer Week (June 3rd-9th), archive volunteers from the Museum of Scottish Railways and the Ballast Trust will give exclusive access to the recently acquired Alexander (Sandy) MacLean Papers.   

This extensive collection of personal, signalling and operational papers has been the focus of a knowledge exchange between MoSR, the North British Railway Study Group [https://www.nbrstudygroup.co.uk/] and the Ballast Trust [https://ballasttrust.org.uk/] that began in autumn 2023 when Assistant Curator Vicky received funding from Industrial Museums Scotland’s ‘Powering Our People’ project to undertake a month long work placement under the supervision of Dr Kiara King, Director of the Ballast Trust.   

A short project that has delivered incalculable value 

‘Powering Our People’ [https://www.goindustrial.co.uk/our-story/our-projects/project-details/powering-our-people-project] aims to address the gap in conservation skills and specialist training within industrial heritage institutions across Scotland.  Vicky recalls: 

“The MoSR Collections team are object specialists who find ourselves caring for an extensive archive which is growing every day.  Being able to spend time at the Ballast Trust, and with the staff of Glasgow University Archives at Thurso Street, gave me the tools and insight to tackle the accessibility issues that derive from cataloguing archival material using processes designed for objects.  I was also shown many budget friendly tips and tricks to help me improve the care and storage of our paper based objects.   

I was able to implement my learnings back at MoSR, developing the skillset of our Collections volunteers and enabling them to catalogue and care for the archival material they handle day to day with confidence.   

The project also showed me just how much help and advice there is in the archives sector for museums who find themselves caring for large archival collections.  The ongoing relationships that have grown from these few weeks are of incalculable value to the whole team here at MoSR.  I couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has lent their support. 

Improving practices in collaboration 

Kiara notes the shared benefits that derive from partner working: 

“Working with the Sandy MacLean collection has enabled the Ballast Trust to share our best practice in processing archive collections. The Ballast Trust itself has worked with volunteers to list and catalogue archives for more than 30 years. However, the MacLean project has given us a new perspective on sharing more widely the archival skills and railway related subject knowledge our volunteers have with other heritage organisations such as the Museum of Scottish Railways. It has highlighted the opportunities which exist to improve practices and develop our volunteer team.” 

Vicky and Kiara, along with archive volunteers from both organisations, will be in the Museum on June 6th showing off the tremendous work that has been done to list and appraise the MacLean Collection.  

Coming up 

In June, the spotlight is firmly on our volunteers.  

MoSR volunteer Andrew Cuthbert will reflect on the benefits of getting involved with Collections to develop professional skills and further careers as he commences a funded role as Collections Cataloguer on the Forbes Alexander Signalling Collection project. 

Later in the month, we hear from Alan Morris, a longstanding volunteer Archivist who has diligently catalogued no less that 5000 paper items in our collection during his years working with us.  He reflects on his years of experience working at Bo’ness and some of his favourite archive items.  

Getting on track for a career in archives – how volunteering can bridge the gap to employment 

Andrew Cuthbert, volunteer Archivist in the MoSR Archive, will take up a 20-week funded position as Collections Cataloguer working on the Forbes Alexander Signalling Collection this month.  In this blog, he introduces himself and reflects on the benefits of volunteering to develop professional skills and explore career opportunities. 

Introducing our new Collections Cataloguer 

My name is Andrew and I have been a volunteer with the Museum of Scottish Railways since 2023. I am from a non-academic background, leaving school at 16, and working various jobs from bartender to deckhand before landing a job in Visitor Services with Museum and Galleries Edinburgh.  I have volunteered with several organisations to gain skills in the Museum sector, meeting some great people along the way.  I passionately believe there are only barriers to what you want to achieve if you let them exist. 

I have always had a passion for the heritage and history of railways with my father taking me to SRPS events such as steam running days and the diesel galas when I was a child. I can still remember the excitement of Driver for a Fiver!  

Now, at the age of 32, I want to pursue my passion for advocacy in Museums. I feel that bringing community together through heritage and history is important for the future of heritage sites. No-one should be excluded if they want to be part of a network of builders, fuelled by passion and imagination to achieve goals together. I want to help MoSR reach a wide and dynamic audience and to inspire everyone to get involved.  

My experience at the Museum 

My day involves working with a diverse and unique range of objects held within this nationally significant Collection. I help identify new objects and tell their fascinating stories. No day is ever the same! 

I have been welcomed with open arms into the Museum of Scottish. Railways, working with a fantastic group of people within the Collections and Outreach departments who have been incredibly supportive. They have really helped me grow and find my confidence, and shown me that, if you are driven and passionate, you can go where you want to go in the organisation. 

New role as Forbes Alexander Collection Cataloguer 

Now all my effort through volunteering has paid off as I have secured a short-term position working on cataloguing and making accessible the Alexander Forbes Collection. After my contract ends, I know I will continue to work and grow with this organisation. I love putting my passion to work in such a brilliant environment.  

Coming up 

In our next blog, we turn from our newest colleague to one of our most established. Alan Morris is a longstanding volunteer Archivist with MoSR who has diligently catalogued no less that 5000 items in our collection during his years working with us. He is never without a delightful story, is a real people person, and has worked on some of our most extensive and revealing personal collections. As part of our Volunteer Week celebrations, he reflects on his years of experience working at Bo’ness and some of his favourite archive items. 

5000 objects and still cataloguing. Volunteer cataloguer Alan Morris reflects on life as a volunteer in the MoSR archive 

Alan Morris is a longstanding volunteer Archivist with MoSR who has diligently catalogued no less that 5000 items in our collection during his years working with us. He is never without a delightful story, is a real people person, and has worked on some of our most extensive and revealing personal collections. As part of our Volunteer Week celebrations, he reflects on his years of experience working at Bo’ness and some of his favourite archive items. 

What is your volunteering role? 

“I am Alan Morris, I retired in 2011 after 37 years in Local Government Town Planning. Living in Paisley I sought to volunteer doing several activities locally but also sought something to take me away from Paisley on a regular basis. 

Based on my family background (both grandparents work for the L.M.S. then British Railways so I was down ‘The Sheds’ and around depots on a regular basis) I sought to fulfil a relationship with some aspect of working railways, obviously in a heritage capacity. I knew about the S.R.P.S and the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway from previous visits so turned up one day to chat to one of their organisers. So many roles and activities to choose from, so many departments where a volunteer was like ‘gold dust.’ I settled on volunteering for Museum duties and, in particular, archiving work.” 

What tasks do you undertake? 

“Over the past 10 years I maybe have archived some 4-5000 items, mostly unique with a unique history. In recent years, to cut down the travelling in inclement weather, I have been archiving at home. I visit the collections store once every 6-8 weeks, get a set of accession numbers in advance, select a donation that looks interesting, bring it home then start the work by getting a semblance of order out of the items, by either date or some communality. Then I start to fill in the data fields required for transfer to Adlib, our museum database.” 

What is your favourite part of volunteering? 

“My most memorable work to date was focussed on the closure of the ‘GLASGOW to KILMACOLM’ line in the 1980’s although preparations by officials in Local Government and British Rail started in the late 1970’s. 

“As I lived (and still do) in Renfrewshire, many of the locations, issues, politicians, and officials ‘mentioned in dispatches’ from that time, were known to me. I hope I did a good job capturing them!!” 

What impact has volunteering had on your life? 

“Volunteering has involved discussion and working with those with and without a railway background, learning many facets of railway operations and uncovering unique ‘heritage’ items. It involves team working across, dare I say at my age, different generations and getting to know people from different parts of the country, all very stimulating, and motivating to me that I can contribute something for and to future generations to appreciate.” 

We do not know what we would do without Alan’s help, and, for the record, he did an excellent job ordering, breathing life into, and making accessible the Kilmacolm Collection.  It is a uniquely skilled piece of work from a uniquely skilled man. 

Coming up 

Summer reading: ‘Three Generations on Scotland’s Railway’ by William and Ken McKee 

In this blog, we share some holiday reading and consider how stories empower us all to shape and strengthen a sense of place and security within a too often “dim, mad world”. 

Daily life in a railway family 

‘Three Generations on Scotland’s Railway’ by William and Ken McKee details the daily lives of a family of railwaymen – grandfather, father, and son – whose careers, on the Caledonian Railway, the LNER (successor to the NBR), and British Railways, span the majority of the twentieth century.  It is a people’s history which reviews the grand events of the period, including two World Wars, the Grouping and the Beeching Cuts, from the perspective of ordinary, front line operators. 

A tale for enthusiasts, by enthusiasts 

William James McKee, born 1909 and raised as a “REAL railway child” in the neighbourhood of Greenhill Yard, opens the narrative.  “To be born”, he recalls: 

“when the railways of Britain were at their busiest, was as good a time as any for an enthusiast.  My earliest recollections were of buffers crashing together and couplings being ‘rugged’.  These sounds came from Greenhill Yard, belonging to the Caledonian Railway (always called ‘the Caley’) on the north side of our house… The building in which I was born was said to have belonged to the Scottish Central Railway… and I know that one of their rails was built into it as a constituent” (4). 

There is much to interest the enthusiast in what follows.  McKee’s direct and personable writing style, filled with anecdotes, easy confessions, and humorous asides, draws in the reader as though they too are a part of the railway family.  This unique world, of crashing buffers, rushing trains, “coil spring gongs in one direction and bells the other”, “was OURS”, he says with pride.  For the duration of this short volume, it is ours too. 

Details of daily life in “beautiful colours” 

Small details of daily life at Bonnybridge, the West Highlands, and the Borders, are described with meticulous care throughout, making the book a valuable resource for the social historian and the “railway daft” alike.  A parade of “spotless bright” engines flash through the pages, all in their “beautiful colours”.  High quality illustrations from some of Scotland’s most prominent photographic collections expand the unfolding railway scene. Readers looking for the “maximum goggle” will not find themselves disappointed. 

Entertainment and edification 

This is, however, not just a nostalgic look back through a haze of steam.  McKee states early on that he intends his memories to “edify” as well as entertain.   

At Greenhill we see youngsters learning what a good life is and what good folk look like as they roam free and unnoticed around their parents’ world.  Heroic tales of daily “miracles” performed by men whose mantra ‘Keep the Trains Running!’ is “engraved on [their] heart” are eagerly consumed along with ash laced tea around too hot bothy fires, becoming part of the new generation’s own history and identity. 

Intergenerational stories have the power to shape and strengthen family identities.  Much like the rail, built for support into McKee’s childhood home, they underpin a community identity through which children are empowered to formulate a sense of place and security within a too often “dim, mad world”. 

“Chaff and banter”, and a fine blether 

A “fine blether” is frequently seen to be a comfort and a cure for the darker side of railway life.  Witnessing the interactions between his father and Inspector Neilson, who would often get together to discuss the Quintinshill disaster, the young McKee learns the value of “common talk” as a means of processing tragedy.  The unthinkable horror that leaves a whole community “aghast” is soothed by a collective sense of purpose, pride and resilience. “The world seemed right as long as the railways were working”.   

“Life”, McKee informs us, “was serious but we did have fun as well”.  He never shies away from the “debit side” of railway life – the inefficiencies, wastefulness, humiliations, and bloody losses – but embraces them equally alongside personal joys and triumphs. “Never mind,”, he reassures after recounting a derailment on the Fort Augustus Railway and a run in with a Station Master “of the despicable type”, “there were also plenty of good things as well as the bad”.  Each recollection of trouble and resolve is an act of care, “an island of light in the darkness”, and a confident assertion that life carries on as steadily and reliably as the coming and going of the trains.  

“Strange the things that stick in the memory” 

Ken McKee, who picks up the narrative in a short section at the end of the book, often subconsciously echoes his father’s experiences.  He talks fondly of the pre-Grouping lines as though he knew them personally, shares the same excitement in “gleaming” engines, and good naturedly confesses to the escapades of “ignorant youth” in much the same way as his father before him.  His own tribe of “railway-daft boys” perched along the top row of Portobello High School’s Latin class have much in common with the boys lined up on the stonework of the bridge at Greenhill a generation ago.   

Ken’s memories often seem to take him by surprise.  The “strange things” that stick in his memory feel less the product of one man’s mind but rather the sum of all that has gone before.  Ultimately, he is who he is because he remembers.  The same can be said of us all. 

What lesson from your railway life would you share with the next generation? 

The Museum of Scottish Railways is currently running an oral history project aimed at capturing lives lived on Scotland’s railways for the benefit of future generations.  If you have a story  you would like to share, please contact Vicky and the MoSR Archive team (vicky.kerrigan@srps.org.uk).  We would love to hear from you. 

Coming up 

Staying with the theme of storytelling to benefit the future, next month we capture a “fine blether” at Bo’ness when the Retired Railway Officers (Scotland) report on the progress of their oral history recording activities, a project made possible thanks to training funded by Scottish Council on Archives as part of our ‘Year in the Life’ partnership. 

Before that, we share exciting plans to reveal hidden objects from the archive at this year’s Scottish Railway History Conference. 

“Is this real history?”: Diary of a new archive volunteer 

In this blog, new archive volunteer Campbell Russell reflects on the trials and treasures of box listing a large and varied collection in the first of a series titled “That might almost be history!” 

Introducing MoSR’s volunteer archivist in training 

I’m a volunteer at the SRPS in Bo’ness, Scotland, in several roles in past years but 

lately in the museum archive learning to box list the collection of one of our late members. 

The donation comprises films, photographs and documents from a long lifetime of railway enthusiasm.  His heirs warned us that “he never threw anything away”. 

Forewarned is forearmed, so they say. Our curator set the films, some dating back to 

the 1920s and probably now very delicate, aside to seek advice from the Scottish Film Archive on how to make them accessible without damaging them. I inherited various boxes of “things”, given to me one or two at a time. The size of the task was not apparent to 

me early on. 

Beginnings 

“List what’s in each box” was my commission.  

I was going to do this work at home so my first and experimental “takeaway” was 3 folders, 

each of which had 2 pockets and all had a mix of letters, newspaper cuttings, photocopies, 

drawings, prints, and photographs. The subject matter varied from the Tay Railway Bridge Disaster, the Caledonian Railway, the Glasgow and South Western Railway, some technical drawings, plus a variety of ephemera. 

I was beginning to feel voyeuristic looking at someone’s private life. How to decide what to keep and what to return, and how to explain my decisions?  I decided a spreadsheet was a good place to start. 

Now, I’m not a fan of spreadsheets and am much happier using WordPerfect tables.  Vicky was very understanding and reassured me “whatever you can manage, we can read 

it here”. That went well until my computer crashed terminally and I had to learn to use 

Windows 11, but that’s only a blip in the story.  Finally, I’d constructed a table (for each folder) of 4 columns headed Item, Date, Size, Details. There was something like 18 line items most of which seemed to me (a novice at this game!) should go back to the heirs, but I thought it was probably “above my pay grade” to decide. So far, so good. Vicky was happy and gave me more boxes to list. 

Getting on with it 

After the fourth box I felt I developing a feeling for what I might have to look carefully for.  We knew that the donor had several special interests so maybe they’d come to light and offer some guidance on what to keep and what to return, or dispose of. 

Some of the material was quite fascinating to untrained eyes, but I did wonder why a person needed 3 photocopies of a map of a new railway from London to Brighton and countless hotel receipts with train timings scribbled on the backs. 

More conversations in the office. What is the value to history of photocopies and magazine cuttings? Would it help the curators afterwards if I were to add a column to the listing with my very amateur view of what to do with the items? Yes, said Vicky, it would. 

So the next batch had an extra column added to the listing; “Future?” This additional column 

gave me a feeling of power. I had to add in word like “return”, “review”, or (very 

frequently) “bin”. However, I recognised this was not the final word on the matter and there 

would be a round table conference at some point where the suggestions would be 

mulled over by more knowledgeable and professional people who would decide. 

Over the next 6 months or so I continued to list the contents of more and more boxes, 

envelopes, folders, and photo albums, but was under no pressure to hurry the job. It was 

hinted to me that I was becoming the expert on the donation since I was the only person doing the listing. Scary thought, but it gave me the incentive to get on with it!   

Image: The finished list

The end at last – or is it? 

The happy day came when I took the last box and list to the office and handed it over. “We 

ought to be celebrating with big slabs of cake,” said Vicky.  “Job done?”, I asked.  “Er….well…no”, was her answer. 

So another conversation began about what the catalogue of the donation would look like and 

how we could use this to help in our later decision-making on what to keep. Am I to be 

among the decision makers? 

 ————— 

Having spent so much time with this collection, Campbell has found himself precisely the “knowledgeable and professional” person we need to help us complete our appraisal.  He has promised to update us on this part of his training soon.   

Get involved 

Would you like to discover your own treasures along with Campbell and the rest of the team in the MoSR archive?  Get in touch.  We would love to hear from you. 

Coming up 

Early in August, we share our plans to reveal hidden objects from the archive at this year’s Scottish Railway History Conference. 

Later in the month, the Retired Railway Officers (Scotland) report on the progress of their oral history project, made possible thanks to training funded by Scottish Council on Archives. 

Revealing hidden perspectives on Scotland’s railway scene at the Scottish Railway History Conference 2024. 

The biannual Scottish Railway History Conference takes place this October in Perth.  This year’s theme is The Grouping.   

As part of the day’s events, the MoSR archive will be taking the opportunity to display some of the recently acquired photographic collections currently being catalogued and digitised by our volunteers.
 

Here’s a preview of some of these soon to be revealed images from the nationally significant Douglas Hume, Ian Gordon, and Roy Crombie collections.  Copyright SRMCT

Visit our new Flickr page for regular updates from our digitisation team, and find out more about the conference here. 

If you have a passion for photography, a keen eye for detail, and a little time to share, there are lots of opportunities to volunteer remotely, either identifying and describing images, or helping to populate Flickr. Get in touch to find your place in the team. 

Coming up 

Back in July, we discussed the place-making power of a “fine blether” [link to JUL1].  In our next blog, we sit down over coffee with the Retired Railway Officers (Scotland) and catch up on the progress of their oral history project, made possible thanks to training funded by the Scottish Council on Archives as part of our ‘Year in the Life’ partnership. 

“If youth knew…”: Capturing the stories of a generation that reshaped the Scotland’s railways 

The Retired Railway Officers Association (Scotland) were at Bo’ness this August, workshopping their oral history project rollout.  Their aim is to capture the stories of a generation of men and women who ran Scotland’s railways in an era of profound change between the Beeching cuts of the 1960s to privatisation in the 1990s.  

Building on Scottish Council on Archives sponsored training 

Participants Derek Sime and Jim Summers attended our Oral Histories training, sponsored by Scottish Council on Archives, back in March.  With the advice of Alison Chand and the British Oral History Society firmly in mind, as well as thoughts of their own around the value of dialogue between old friends and sparring partners to spark shared memories, they have recruited other volunteer members and shared their knowledge.  A team of six interviewers will sit down for a “fireside chat” with former colleagues from all disciplines across the chilly season to uncover the day to day thoughts and experiences of life on Scotland’s railways during the reshaping. 

Read about our Oral Histories training program with Dr Alison Chand here. 

Practical lessons 

An interruption from the telephone and the stream of traffic in North Street taught us practical lessons about recording equipment set up, and the suitability of our main office for hosting interviews (conclusion: not very).  Nonetheless, John Yellowlees, formerly of ScotRail’s community team, overcomes the background noise to eloquently explain why this project is both significant and timely: Intro to the Project

Immediate priorities 

Summarising the way in which the Railway Officers will achieve their aims, Jim Summers notes that “[t]he immediate priority of the project is to speak to railway personnel who can recall the Beeching years. Thereafter the themes of privatisation and re-nationalisation will be considered. It is recognised that while these are key themes, the interviewers will encourage general recollections of railway life and times.” 

Proud partners 

The Museum of Scottish Railways is privileged to be the official repository for the stories and voices that will be captured in the coming months and will be making them available as they are recorded. 

If you would like to access our Oral Histories collection, or if you wish to find out more about the RROA (Scotland) project, please get in touch.  Contact vicky.kerrigan@srps.org.uk. 

Coming up 

In September, we update on a new digitisation project and take our first steps to decarbonising the archive in time for Scotland’s Climate Week (23-29 September). 

Townsweb Archiving Digitisation Grant Winners 2024 

We are delighted to share the news that the Museum of Scottish Railways archive has been awarded the TWA Digitisation Grant 2024. 

The announcement was made at the ARA Conference in Birmingham on the 28th August. Work begins this September.

Summary of the project 

Our funded project focuses on the Lumsden Family Papers [discussed in MAR2 blog].  It will reveal the hidden history of women and the family in railway culture and open access to the material to the wider community. 

Previous digitisation projects have tended to focus on the professional operation and the men who ran it and have skimmed over the social networks that supported them. This project will give the public access to a unique, previously unseen family archive that reveals railway community life in all its vibrant diversity. 

Documenting homes on the rails across Scotland, the Lumsden Papers are full of detail to engage the general user and is key to understanding the social role of women on Scotland’s railways in the mid-20th Century.  Created and informally curated by the stationmaster’s wife Isobel Horn, the collection opens a window into the culture and social concerns of railway communities in the pre-Beeching era. Informal snapshots capture daily life in and around stations up and down the country, progressive changes in the built environment, leisure activities such as the camping coach holiday, and mid-century fashion trends.   

A “ground-breaking collaboration” 

Nathanael Liu, our digitisation partner, shares the following thoughts as we prepare to start the work: 

“We’re excited to be a part of this ground-breaking collaboration with the Museum of Scottish Railways, which will bring the vibrant, untold stories of railway communities and the crucial role of women to light, offering the public unprecedented access to a rich family archive.” 

We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with TWA and can’t wait to get started. 

Coming up 

The celebrations continue throughout September.  At the end of the month, we will be participating in Scotland’s Climate Week (23-29 September) and helping contributors around the country amplify positive climate actions by sharing ‘Stories for Change’.  In our next blog, the archive team will discuss our first thoughts on decarbonizing our digital archive. 

Scotland’s Climate Week: MoSR’s Story for Change  

Scotland’s Climate Week is coming up on 23-29 Sept.  This year, communities and organisations across Scotland are celebrating and encouraging climate action by sharing ‘Stories for Change’.  In this blog, the team disclose our first thoughts on decarbonizing our digital archive.  Taking time to reflect on our current practices was rewarding. It encouraged us to think about why we do some of the things we do, and allowed us to determine practical, resource friendly actions.  It also helped us to embrace the ‘good enough’ approach that is so necessary in so many community archives. 

Face to face with climate change 

Bo’ness harbour on an unusually hot and sunny day

Being so close to the water, Bo’ness is well known for its changeable weather. However, this summer season, our hot days have been hotter, and our wet spells wetter and wilder. It is impossible to deny that we are feeling the effects of climate change.  In light of this, there has never been a more crucial time to focus on understanding and minimising our carbon footprint. 

A good track record 

Volunteer Chris notes that our organisation already has a good track record in helping develop fuel with lower carbon emissions than coal. His new railway species recording project, which commenced this autumn, aims to reveal the natural history of our railway, providing a springboard to green activities and research, and the opportunity to diversify our visitor offer. In March, we discussed some of the other efforts we have made in 2024 to support and enhance biodiversity along our line [link to Green Week blog]. 

We are proud of these positive steps, but there is always more to do. 

Carbon Literacy training 

In October, General Manager Katy will be undertaking carbon literacy training with the Carbon Literacy Trust thanks to support from the Heritage Alliance. She will then train her team as part of our shared commitment to sustainability. 

In support of Katy’s efforts, the Collections team sat down this month to define some climate pledges that will help us to green our archive.  

Actions and pledges 

Since we are about to embark on an exciting new funded digitisation project with Townsweb Archiving, we decided that we could usefully focus on how we might develop a sustainable approach to preserving our growing collection of born digital images, scanned records, surrogates, and oral histories. 

The MoSR archive already conserves energy in the following ways: 

• We use lossless compression formats to minimize storage requirements and preserve the quality of digitised assets. 

• We have introduced automation into some of our workflows, especially for image processing. This reduces computer workload and enhances accuracy while easing our team’s manual proofreading load.  

• Backups and integrity checks are done at night. 

Going forward, we pledge to: 

• Avoid digitising material unless for a specific purpose. We will concentrate on digitising at risk and regularly requested material and will create copies of other material only as needed. 

• Understand the social and environmental impacts of partner services and make ethical, informed choices based on this knowledge. 

• Regularly remove duplicated and redundant content from object files and collection related digital records.  

Reflections on the process 

Reflecting on our ‘Story for Change’ allowed us space to celebrate the steps we have successfully taken and helped us to formulate achievable next moves.   

What we found particularly encouraging about this process was the realisation that many of the actions we identified as deliberate, eco-friendly choices were consistent with the small, community archive’s need to adopt a ‘good enough’ approach to how we care for our collections.  We do not have the funds or staff capacity to generate and manage substantial amounts of backups, or digitize everything we own, nor do we need to achieve a balance between sustainability, access, and good customer service.   

The process stimulated general conversation about climate change that engaged our group positively and spread to the wider site.  David, Douglas, Campbell, and Chris are just a few of the staff and volunteers who have shared their own personal climate action to contribute to a healthier, happier Scotland.  

Get involved 

Have you taken climate action to ensure a healthier, happier Scotland?  Share your story using #ScotClimateWeek. 

Coming up 

We turn from carbon emissions to volcanic ones. In celebration of Scottish Museums Day on October 3rd we highlight a ‘tiny treasure’ made from lava expelled during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius during World War II in the newly acquired archive of Thankerton Railwayman and Royal Engineer Jack Russell.  We look at how objects perform documentary functions in wartime archival collections, and how object handling and preservation skills support the work in our archive.