A Year in the Life of a Community Archive: Dunkeld Archive

March – Get Creative!

Our March online exhibition is now live – Niel Gow – Historic Dunkeld telling the history of the man and his legacy to Scottish Fiddle music. Featuring an amazing 3D image of his fiddle, which is held by Blair Castle. Our next exhibition will be about Alexander “Dundonnachie” Robertson and will be available in April. Follow the link on our web site home page – www.historicdunkeld.org.uk.

These online exhibitions are one of the projects Imogen Bell is involved with. Imogen joined us as a volunteer in July 2022 after completing her Degree in Ancient Studies  Imogen is now employed at the Archive and will start an Apprenticeship through Museum Galleries Scotland on the 3^rd of April. The 3D images she is producing will also be used to create a “Museum for Visually Impaired” to enable visitors to enlarge and view objects in a more accessible way (scroll down to see Neil Gow’s Fiddle in 3D!). A young intern who worked with us last year truly inspired us to be more creative with our accessibility. Her severe sight impairment meant that she couldn’t see many museum objects due to their size and being behind glass. This technology will enable people to enlarge our objects and also experience them from home.

Other exciting news is that we are starting a Children’s History Club soon! This will initially be set up as an after-school club for the local primary schools. Thanks to the Basil D’Eath Trust, who are funding the set-up for the club, they have enabled us to purchase materials for activities for the first year of running. We are hoping to use this club as a way to interact with young people in the community and get them engaging with local history.

We are also amalgamating with our local Historical Society to enable us to work more closely together and help support their administration. As organisations with similar interests, it will be beneficial to combine and gain new insight and information regarding history in the local area.

We are holding a Fundraising Charity Auction on Saturday 15^th April, 7pm at Birnam Arts. This event will kickstart our fundraising campaign for the redevelopment of the Archive building. Extension plans will be on display for comment and auction lots will be sold by David Leggat, retired Director and auctioneer from United Auctions, Stirling. Tickets are available at – Birnamarts.com

Another important date for your diary is Saturday 29^th and Sunday 30^th July. Our annual Living History event, exhibition on photography, and concerts will be held in Dunkeld. The Erskine Regiment telling the story of the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689, The Great War Society and Scots at War immersing us into the life of the Scottish Horse regiment, Jesters will entertain, and much more.

We will also be embarking on our first Guided History Tours, starting in April, for an American tour company who has asked us to do 67 throughout 2023 for them! A much welcome revenue boost.

Useful links:

• Niel Gow exhibition
• More about the Museums Galleries Scotland apprenticeships
• Learn more about the Basil D’Eath Trust
• Get tickets for the Fundraising Charity Action on 15th April 

Our April online exhibition is now live – Alexander “Dundonnachie” Robertson – Historic Dunkeld telling the history of the man and his involvement in the Dunkeld Bridge Toll Riots of 1868.  This story is also available to view as a ‘Street Theatre Production’ created by our first ‘Kickstarter’ Michael, or as an ‘Animation’ created by our second Kickstarter Steven, on our YouTube channel dunkeld community archive – YouTube.

This story is also available in the form of a children’s animated book, which is available in our shop.

Next months exhibition is all about Tourist souvenirs of the Victorian era.  Accessible on our web site – www.historicdunkeld.org.uk

Look what Steve’s achieving now …. Home | Studio Puddock

Our charity auction, held in Birnam Arts on Saturday 15^th April, was a huge success.  This event kickstarted our fundraising campaign for our Extension/Redevelopment project.  An amazing £4150 was raised, so thanks to everyone who supported us.

Our GoFundMe page has been launched so hopefully people will continue to support our cause – Fundraiser by John Gray : Dunkeld Archive and Museum extension (gofundme.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our extension plans are on display for public consultation in the Community Archive, 12 The Cross, Dunkeld, and at Birnam Arts, Station Road, Birnam.  Feedback can be given via our Survey Monkey –

Our May online exhibition is now live – Tourism and Trinkets – Historic Dunkeld.

An exhibition about Tourist souvenirs of the Victorian era. Accessible on our web site – www.historicdunkeld.org.uk. Next month’s exhibition will be about the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

Read on to find out about all that we have been up to this month!

Guided Tours: we were asked by Rick Steves (Europe) Tour company to host 65 guided tours for their American visitors this year. These are going very well, with one of our volunteers, Tom Gordon, being the main tour guide, and Imogen filling in where he cannot. This has been a great boost to our revenue for this year and a great chance for Imogen to learn more about Dunkeld’s history and gain valuable experience and evidence for her apprenticeship through Museum Galleries Scotland.

Seeing as the coronation of King Charles III took place this month, we thought this item from our collections would be of particular interest – the flag in the picture to the left was found by a resident of Dunkeld Servite Housing in the loft.  If you look closely at the bottom, the word “Queen” has been replaced by the word “King”.  We think the flag was made for the Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, then “recycled” for the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902.

Amazingly, it came full circle when we displayed it for King Charles’s coronation this year.

Living History Event (29^th and 30^th July) – arrangements are coming along nicely. Entry to Stanley Hill Park is free.

Tickets for the four concerts and the photographic display are now on sale at birnamarts.com (01350 727674):

Displays of the Wet Plate Collodion Process of early photography will be held throughout the day in The Chanonry where visitors will witness the process of photography and the development of the wet plate negatives. There will also be an opportunity to be one of the photographic subjects, who will be given their glass plate negative to take home.

An exhibition of early photography will be in the Community Archive, showing Alexander MacKenzie’s story and photographs, plus the very earliest photographs of Dunkeld by Dr John Wheeley Gough Gutch, who visited in May 1857.  Dr Gutch’s personal album will be on display.  Entry is £3, and free for children.

Scroll to the bottom of the blog to see posters for the amazing events taking place!

New Acquisitions: we have received a number of interesting items this month, including the Dunkeld Bellringers full archive containing many photographs, documents and recordings; two boxes of glass lantern slides from the primary school which had been used to educate in subjects such as aeroplanes, wildlife, nursery rhymes, geography and a whole set on the Kingdom of Fife; and a Scottish Horse badge from WWI along with the soldiers Trenching Tool and a Ghurka’s Kukri he apparently picked up in Gallipoli – maybe he swapped it for his boring Army issue knife??

Display: we have been adding to our display in the Archive, finding lots of interesting goodies in what we call “the big black box”. A photograph of “Beardie Willie” for instance, who was the 5^th Duke of Atholl’s Ghillie, Gamekeeper, Gardener and an amateur violin maker. 6’3” with a big bushy beard and always in a kilt, who was quite a character.

Volunteers: we have had amazing success in gaining new volunteers using the Make Your Mark platform, especially in attracting young people for work experience. Young people who are willing to travel some distance too, from places such as Edinburgh and Stirling. We, unfortunately, have to say goodbye to one of our Make Your Mark volunteers, Laura, this month as she has successfully gained her first job after graduating from University in History with her Masters in Information Management and Preservation. We are pleased to have helped her gain confidence and work experience here over the past 6 months, and although she has not gained a position within the museum and archive sector, we have every faith that she will achieve her goal in the future.

We are very lucky to have such a wide range of age-groups volunteering here as it gives us such an extensive variation of experience and ideas. Our youngest is just 16, with our oldest being 96!!

Laura, age 23.                                     Clare, in her 80’s.

Funding: we have been successful in gaining funding from the Jimmie Cairncross Trust, the first of three applications submitted for a project to create a children’s animated version of the Dunkeld and Birnam Blue Plaque Trail. This funding will give our talented young ex. Kickstarter and Young Person’s Guarantee scheme animator his first official commission since becoming self-employed and setting up his own animation studio. Fingers crossed for the other two funders!

We are also currently pulling together a project of Oral History, to interview and record many local individuals who appear in cinefilm footage from the 1950’s. One of these films in particular is of the Queens Coronation in 1953. We plan to incorporate the memories of the individuals who were there into the film.

We continue to fundraise for our extension project. To support us, please got to our GoFundMe platform – Fundraiser by John Gray : Dunkeld Archive and Museum extension (gofundme.com)

Useful links:

• Tourism and Trinkets online exhibition
• GoFundMe fundraiser for Dunkeld Archive’s extension project
• Tickets to the Living History Event concerts and photographic display
• Make Your Mark volunteering opportunities portal

Our June online exhibition is now live – The Battle of Dunkeld – Historic Dunkeld

This month’s exhibition is about the “Battle of Dunkeld” in 1689. Accessible on our web site – www.historicdunkeld.org.uk

A massive thank you to Perth Museum who very kindly donated these wonderful display cabinets which were surplus to their needs after the refurbishment of the Art Gallery space. They will really help us build on our public engagement giving us much needed display space. There are four in total, one of which now displays the story of 2^nd Lieutenant David Bell, the soldier whose grave was identified through a small notebook held in our collection.

Another fabulous offer was from The Keep Military museum in Dorchester. They are knocking a wall down and extending their Rackline storage system to accommodate their growing collection. Their old Rackline storage system was advertised “free to a good home” via the National Army Museum’s weekly newsletter. As we are bursting at the seams for space, and our extension project is some time away, we asked them to hold it for us until we figured out how we were going to get it to Dunkeld. Rackline themselves were goingto be far too expensive to dismantle, transport and rebuild here. The Dunkeld branch of the “Men’s Shed” came to our rescue.  “We can do that”, “it would be a great boys road trip”!!

So, what had been a passing comment has turned into reality, and the boys set off in their hired van on Sunday 25^th June. Monday and Tuesday were spent dismantling and they headed back up the road on Wednesday and the installation in the Archive began on Thursday morning. This has given us the much needed storage space we were lacking until our extension project becomes reality.

Funding: Success for funding our project to create a children’s animated version of the Dunkeld and Birnam Blue Plaque Trail continues with the news that we have gained a further 50% towards the cost from Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust. A huge thank you for their support. We eagerly await the final part of the funding, whose Trust meet in July.

AIM Conference: Our manager, Ruth Brown, attended the Association of Independent Museums conference in June. An extremely useful conference with many new contacts made and lots of advice and ideas gained.

Tayside Museum Forum: We had the pleasure of being one of the speakers at the Forum’s third “Tayside Treasures” online talk. Our subject matter was the very earliest photographs of Dunkeld from 1857 by an amateur photographer, Dr Gutch. This album will be on display in our exhibition at our Living History event at the end of July.

Ashville “Sister Cities” visit: We offered them a guided history tour and accompanied them on their visit to Blair Castle. They were emersed in the music and heritage of Dunkeld and thoroughly enjoyed their stay here. We also gratefully accepted a very generous donation from our Twinned city of a cheque for £1514.54 which was the proceeds from Ashville’s Burns Supper. This donation will go towards our Extension project.

A “Local Volunteers Fair” was held in Birnam Arts this month.  An opportunity for all the groups in Dunkeld who rely heavily on volunteers to run them gathered to promote themselves.  We met lots of interesting people and new contacts.  It did confirm though that Dunkeld has a lot to offer the residents, but a small pool of potential volunteers to help run all the different organisations.

Perth Museum Pivot Project: Emily Smit-Dicks approached us recently for us to be involved in her commissioned project to produce a banner which will be displayed in the Perth’s new Museum. Based on Amulree’s history and its links with Amulree in Canada, where Emily is from, the banner will be made from a combination of patchwork and applique. The Archive will be a great source for research on Amulree.

Living History Event: Only one month to go to our biggest annual history event. Tickets are selling fast for the four concerts and photographic display, so book your ticket soon so as not to be disappointed.

We have had a busy month re-building our archive since the Rackline storage went in. We didn’t realise we had so much, and that it had actually fitted in that wee archive room!!  But, it is all safely back on the shelves. We even have “empty” shelves, something we never had the luxury of before.

A massive thank you to the Dunkeld and Birnam Men’s Shed for all their hard graft and skill at making this happen.

Also, a massive thank you to Asheville Sister Cities, our wonderful ‘twinned’ family across the pond, who’s very kind donation from their 2023 Burns Supper has paid for the project.

The Scottish Horse regimental collection just behind a “very happy” manager:

So, our minds are very much on our forthcoming Living History weekend now.

We start the event with an amazing performance by our local storyteller, Lindsey Gibb.

Friday 28^th July at 7pm, Birnam Arts. Tickets cost £12 + £1 booking fee and are available from birnamarts.com or on the door.

“Do you think you know about Witches?….Think again!” Join Lindsey for a true account of the Witches of Dunkeld and surrounding areas in the superstition rife 17^th century.

Saturday 29^th July, 10am, Stanley Hill Park.

The weekend outdoor FREE entertainment begins. The park will be open to the public until 5pm.

The Erskine Regiment will capture your attention with their amazing camp, complete with Barbers Surgeon and all his gory stories and props. Musket, Pike and Canon displays will be on in the events arena throughout the day.

The Scots at War, Great War Society, London Scottish, Canadian Forestry Corp. and Local Defence Volunteers will “show & tell” the stories from the Boer, Great and 2^nd World Wars.

Jesters will be on hand to irritate entertain you!! With their Stocks to get your “own back” on family members, knife throwing, and general fun and games.

Our 12^th Century Knight will dazzle you with his magnificent armour and weaponry.

Steven, our Caricature artist, will be available to create a wonderful likeness.

Our very own Birnam Highland Games members will tell you the fascinating history of the Games, going way back to the early 19^th century, and show you some of their ‘tools of the trade’.

Blairgowrie, Rattray and District Pipe Band will play throughout the day.

The Fire Heritage stand will also be here, showing you the kit from 100 years ago to present.

EXHIBITION OF VICTORIAN PHOTOGRAPHY – Will be held in the Community Archive, 12 The Cross, Dunkeld.  £3 entry, U12’s free.

An album containing the earliest ever photographs of Dunkeld, from May 1857, will be on display to the public for the first time, along with the fascinating story of the photographer, Dr John Wheeley Gough Gutch.

Joining Gutch’s amazing display will be Dunkeld and Birnam’s own Victorian photographer, Alexander MacKenzie, who started in Dunkeld as a photographer’s assistant in 1865.

Many cameras from throughout time will be on display, along with modern technology showing how we use photography to create 3D images for our online exhibitions.

WITNESS VICTORIAN PHOTOGRAPHY FIRST HAND – displays throughout the day in The Chanonry, Cathedral Street, Dunkeld, by Dave Hunt who uses this process for his photography today. £5 entry (tickets available from birnamarts.com or on the door, but spaces are very limited so early booking is advised). See the full process, from taking the shot to developing the glass plate negative.

You can also have the amazing opportunity to have YOUR photo taken ‘old-style’. This privilege will cost £50 and bookings should be made direct by emailing archives@historicdunkeld.org.uk (spaces are even more limited for this opportunity, so book early to avoid disappointment).

CONCERT IN BIRNAM ARTS – 7pm. Tickets cost £15 + £1 booking fee available from birnamarts.com or on the door. The Saturday is rounded off nicely with a stunning performance by Dunkeld’s very own Soprano Colleen Nicholl. She is joined by Tenor, David Douglas and Pianist, Andrew Johnston for an evening of reimagined stories ‘under the branches’ of the Birnam Oak. Tales of love, hate, life and death will be staged by the trio in this special show devised for our event.

Sunday 30^th July – Stanley Hill Park events, photography exhibition and displays resume 10am to 5pm.

THE STORY OF THE CHURCH WITH MUSIC – Dunkeld Cathedral at 3pm. Tickets £12 + £1 booking fee available at birnamarts.com or on the door. A fascinating history with fabulous music from the church choir and other local musicians.

We complete the weekend of entertainment with another performance in Birnam Arts.

DANIEL DOWNIE, COMEDIAN & SCOTTISH HISTORIAN – 8PM. Tickets cost £12 + £1 booking fee available at birnamarts.com or on the door. An “Edinburgh Fringe sensation”, Daniel aims to showcase Scotland’s best historical characters and stories; you’ll learn and laugh about everything from William Wallace to Susan Boyle. So come along and laugh a lot while you learn a little.

We hope you can join us for a fabulous weekend.

Some pics from last year….

Living History Weekend

We had a fabulous “Living History Weekend”!! A huge thank you to everyone involved in making the weekend run so smoothly.

Witches, Opera, Choirs and Comedy, amazing performances from Lindsey Gibb, Colleen Nicholl, David Douglas, Andrew Johnston, Dunkeld Cathedral Choir, Just Singin’, Marta Totten, Wattie Barbour, Rev, Fraser Penny, and Daniel Downie. Our concerts were a huge success (thankfully, as they pay for next year!!).

Our Photography Exhibition was very well received. Displaying the fascinating stories and images of our own resident Victorian photographer Andrew Finley MacKenzie, and the ‘earliest ever photographs of Dunkeld’ by Dr John Wheeley Gough Gutch. This exhibition will remain on display in the Community Archive until the end of September.

Victorian Photography was brought to life by Dave Hunt (davehunt.co.uk) with his 100-year-old camera. Dave spent the weekend taking amazing ‘Tin-Type’ photographs of our re-enactors and visitors.

The weather was very kind, considering the forecast for the weekend. Stanley Hill Park took us through time from the 12^th to the 20^th Century with talk on Knights, the Battle of Dunkeld, the First and Second World War, with Jesters capers thrown in to entertain us all, and the wonderful Blairgowrie, Rattray & District Pipe Band. Parents were buying our Jesters cake, to thank them for the free child-care, as they sat back in the sunshine with a coffee watching their kids learn new tricks like plate spinning and juggling, but soon paid the price when they were put in the stocks to have wet sponges thrown at them!!

The Erskine Regiment’s camp was amazing, with a Barbers Surgeon and some seriously realistic looking limbs, blood and gore, with a few maggots for good measure!  Their displays and stories on life in the 17^th Century had visitors engrossed.

The Scots at War, Great War Society, London Scottish, Canadian Forestry Corps and Local Defence Volunteers did an amazing job of telling the stories of the First and Second World Wars. They are so passionate and knowledgeable about their time period. An added bonus for the Forestry Corp was when a visitor brought them an old saw to restore. It turns out that it had been found in a Mill near Dunkeld and could very well have been used by the Newfoundland Forestry Corp when they were here during WWI. They took it to the grave of Private Selby Taylor, who had died in an accident at Craigvinean Forest in March 1918, to pay their respects.

The Knights went down a storm, with their amazing display of weapons and armour of the day, and stories of what life was like in the 12^th & 13^th Centuries.

Birnam Highland Games joined us this year to tell the fascinating, and long history of the Games in Dunkeld.  You can hear their story on our latest online exhibition – Birnam Highland Games – Historic Dunkeld

Steven Goodison, our ex. Kickstarter & Young Person Guarantee Scheme employee, (studiopuddock.com) joined us to draw ‘Ye Olde Likeness’.

The Scottish Deli very kindly sponsored our event again this year, with two amazing hampers to raffle.

Young Archaeologists’ Club

We are delighted to announce that we have received approval from the Council for British Archaeology for Dunkeld Young Archaeologists’ Club. We hope to start sessions at the beginning of September.

We have successfully achieved full funding now from Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust, the Thomson Trust and the Jimmie Cairncross Trust to create a children’s animated version of the Dunkeld & Birnam Heritage Trails.  Our amazing young animator, Steven Goodison, has started the lengthy process of creating the drawings required.  Each of our Blue Plaques (27 in Dunkeld and 12 in Birnam) will have its own animation, telling children the history of the house, or person who lived there.  A map will be produced for the kids to follow.

And coming up soon – come and find us at the Birnam Highland Games on Saturday 26^th August!

Visit our web site to view our latest online exhibition – www.historicdunkeld.org

Young Archaeologists’ Club

We’re now three sessions into our new club. So far, we have covered Cropmarks, Stratigraphy and Bartering.

Sessions are fortnightly on a Thursday from 4pm to 5pm for ages 8 to 16.

Mid-Week Memories Club

Thanks to funding from Perth and Kinross Council, through their Warm Welcome Funding, we will begin a new weekly club to reminisce over old photographs and film, enticing the community into the archive with coffee and cake! Transport has also been arranged if necessary. Our first session will be on Wednesday 1st November from 10.30am to 12.30pm. As well as reminiscing with like-minded folk, there will be an opportunity to learn about Dunkeld’s wealth of history and there will even be a free weekly raffle!

This club will run until the end of March and is funded by Perth & Kinross Council Warm Welcome Fund.

Black History Month

One of our volunteers, Munro Gauld, told me about this story when he came across a receipt for clothing purchased in 1826, which is in our archive collection. He has since written this amazing story for us about Anne Tobin Stewart and her journey from Grenada to Dunkeld, her fascinating life and the difficulties she would have faced as a black woman and illegitimate child. Click on the link below to read.

Anne Tobin Stewart – Historic Dunkeld

Collections Audit

A group of our fabulous volunteers have embarked on a collection audit. A very necessary undertaking to make sure items are in the right place, have no conservation issues, and are stored correctly. A great way for volunteers to delve into the depths of our collection, but unfortunately also has the side-effect of losing them down rabbit holes!! It’s all too interesting……

Fundraising Event

There’s still plenty of time to donate a bottle of whisky to our online auction. All profits raised will go towards our redevelopment project to create a first-class accessible Heritage Centre in Dunkeld. If anyone has an old or rare bottle they would be happy to donate, please get in touch before 3^rd November – archives@historicdunkeld.org.uk

December: Exciting News

Our biggest news for this month has to be receiving the Kings Award for Voluntary Services.  We are so very proud of all our volunteers hard work over the last 3 decades, which has led to this prestigious award.

The King’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to benefit their communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee and, following his accession, His Majesty The King emphasised his desire to continue the Award.

Recipients are announced annually on 14th November, The King’s Birthday. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse and include volunteer groups from across the UK, such as a social support network for disabled adults in Banffshire; a charity using a refurbished pool as a community hub in south Wales; volunteer doctors providing pre-hospital care across rural Cumbria and a village renewal organisation promoting sustainability, equality and social inclusion in County Antrim.

Representatives of The Chapter House Museum Trust will receive the award crystal and certificate from Stephen Leckie Esq., Lord-Lieutenant of Perthshire.  Two volunteers from the Chapter House Museum Trust will attend a garden party at Holyrood House in July 2024, along with other recipients of this year’s Award.

Manager Ruth Brown says: “I am delighted that our group’s work has been recognised in this way. I am very proud of our volunteers’ achievements as we simply could not exist without them. Our volunteers range in age from 17 to 96, and we are so fortunate to benefit from the diverse range of opinions and skills they bring to our workforce.”