Hello!

Join us this year as we follow Deaf History Scotland! We will be highlighting the work that the Archive does, the activities it plans, the challenges it faces and the opportunities it captures.

Deaf History Scotland (DHS) is a volunteer-led charity founded in 2008. We are committed to preserving and celebrating the history, culture, and activities of deaf individuals and organisations in Scotland. Our two key aims are: to establish a knowledge and learning hub for Scottish deaf history; and to support young deaf people into heritage professions by supporting access to education, training and employment.

We are the caretakers of the Scottish Deaf Archive (SDA) which holds over 200 years of material documenting the history, culture, and lives of deaf people and their communities in Scotland. We are based in Deaf Action in Edinburgh, where we also run a History Club with Deaf Action Youth Services for deaf children, and the Brennan Library which is the largest public collection of books related to Scottish deaf history, culture and language.

The SDA consists of approximately 80 collections, spanning personal papers, committee records, photographs, film, trophies, club banners, clothing, and assistive technology. The personal collections are especially important in their rarity as they, offer insights into everyday deaf experiences that are often missing from mainstream records. Institutional records tend to focus on education and social services rather than deaf culture and identity. The collections in the SDA fills this gap, providing an important resource for understanding Scotland’s deaf communities beyond institutional and medical narratives.

Several of the SDA collections are also of international importance as they relate to Scotland’s long and influential history in deaf education, advocacy, and culture. Significant collections relate to; the world’s first constituted deaf organisation, now Deaf Action; the world’s oldest and active deaf football club, Glasgow Deaf Athletic; the first to formally propose the term British Sign Language for the sign language used in the UK, linguist Mary Brennan was while researching at Moray House College of Education in Edinburgh.

Over the last five years, Deaf History Scotland has managed major change following the sudden loss of our original premises and an emergency relocation to Deaf Action in 2020. Since this move, we have prioritised securing the collections, implementing environmental monitoring and good-practice care, while maintaining public access and formalising our partnership with Deaf Action in our new home in Edinburgh.

Through these changes, DHS and the SDA have gone from strength to strength, culminating in the securing of a grant from The National Archives’ Archives Revealed programme. The funded cataloguing project started at the end of last year, as we work through 2026 with volunteers to develop a deaf-centred catalogue for the Scottish Deaf Archive. Alongside this, we will have an exciting programme of activities throughout the year including the Edinburgh Deaf Festival and Doors Open Day.

2026 is a big year for us we look forward to sharing our journey with you!