FIRST TO THE POLE? POLAR PUNCH-UP IN THE PRESS

The magazine of the National Library of | www.nls.uk | Issue 14 Winter 2009

The Lyon in Mourning An insider’s account of the 1745 rebellion THE LIBRARY’S QUEST FOR SPACE THE FIGHT AGAINST VOTES FOR WOMEN GIANT ATLAS ARRIVES AT NLS

A CELEBRATION OF SCOTLAND ON STAGE Scottish theatre and its international impact welcome

Historic tales to treasure 18 p see , from shelf to stage chhead s the cliché says, the winter nights have well and z Lo i

y L truly drawn in but there is plenty in this new issue b ff O A of Discover NLS to keep the cold from the door. We find out how the struggle to claim the North These are opped unique pieces Ch Pole was depicted in the postcards and cartoons of the time. Then to home, theatre critic Mark Fisher enjoys displayed in a sneak preview of the Library’s new exhibition, Curtain Up: a special space DISCOVER NLS Got Her Head

s Issue 14 winter 2009 40 Years of Scottish Theatre, taking in bold works from the

CONTACT US heady 1970s right up to recent stage hit . We welcome all comments, We also have the first in our new series of articles on questions, submissions and subscription enquiries. NLS treasures. These are unique pieces displayed in a Please write to us at the special space at the George IV Bridge building. In this Mary Queen of Scot

National Library of Scotland f

o address below or email issue we explore the first-hand history of the 1745 Jacobite n o [email protected]

cti rising and the flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie as told by a u d FOR NLS o EDITOR-IN-CHIEF clergyman, Robert Forbes, in his Lyon in Mourning. pr s ’ Alexandra Miller Every item in the Library is a treasure to some degree, MANAGING EDITOR

tland Julian Stone however, and that’s why we think carefully about how we o c Director of Development

S store them all, as well as how we can free up yet more space to f AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS o Teri Wishart contain our growing collections. I was given an insight into EDITORIAL ADVISER

heatre Willis Pickard the challenge facing us as I discovered just how many miles of T space – and how much money – are saved using innovative nal CONTRIBUTORS o John Bowles, Mark Fisher, ati storage methods, as my article in this issue explains.

N Chris Fleet, Clare Harris, he It is one of the satisfactions of being a member of the Board

T Sally Harrower, Brian Hillyard, in Rab Jackson, Andrew Martin,

ts of Trustees to learn of practical down-to-earth initiatives as

o Cate Newton, Willis Pickard, c

S Steve Scott, Chris Tabraham, well as the scholarship displayed by members of staff. f

o Helen Vincent, Duncan Welsh, Paula Williams een

y Qu EDITOR Jack Kibble-White ar [email protected] M Design Matthew Ball as

Sub-editorS Anne Willis Pickard reer Boyle, Andrew Littlefield, Clare Harris Member of the National Library of Scotland’s Board of Trustees Jo F Publisher John Innes and [email protected] ADVERTISING Julie Twaddell Best Corporate publication customer magazine of the year abeth 0141 582 1280 z CorpComms Awards 2009 PPA Scotland Awards 2009 li   E PUBLISHED by as y Think Scotland

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feat , Twitter YouTube tt National Library of Scotland Facebook o George IV Bridge Keep up to date Twitter is the Watch films from bl EH1 1EW with the Library, online social NLS’ Scottish Telephone 0131 623 3700 and become our network service Screen Archive via chris y Fax 0131 623 3701 fan by adding your that allows users the YouTube b o Email [email protected] own comments. to post brief news website. You can t o Remember, you updates. rate your favourite ph The National Library of need to set up You can read reels and leave ver Scotland is a registered your own NLS tweets comments on o c Scottish charity. Scottish Facebook account on Twitter at www.youtube. nt Charity No. SC011086 http://twitter. com/user/

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www.nls.uk Winter 2009 | discover nls | 3 CONTENTS

6 USING NLS Your guide on how to find your way around Controversy raged as the Library’s collections two teams lodged and services competing claims to 8 NEWS being first at the top The latest NLS news of the world and comment. In this issue: Library acquires Page 16 giant atlas, NLS wins awards, latest accessibility initiatives and upcoming events

16 FIRST AT THE NORTH POLE: COOK OR PEARY? The debate surrounding which explorer was first to the North Pole spilled out into a range of printed paraphernalia, as John Bowles illustrates

18 THEATRE IN THE SPOTLIGHT Curators Sally Harrower and Andrew Martin guide us through NLS’ new exhibition celebrating modern Scottish theatre

24 END OF A REBELLION The Library’s treasures display features Jacobites’ eyewitness accounts, as reported by church minister Robert Forbes

26 IN SEARCH OF SPACE Willis Pickard investigates how the Library manages to contain an unceasingly expanding collection of books, manuscripts and other objects Contributors to this issue include

28 MY NLS Historian Chris Tabraham on why the maps held in NLS’ collections mean so much to him

29 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Rab Jackson on the Helen Vincent Clare Harris Rab Jackson Chris Fleet Library’s preservation A Senior Curator Clare writes on social Rab is NLS’ Chris is the Temporary and conservation work in the Rare affairs in Scotland Preservation & Map Collections Book Collections and beyond. She Conservation Manager at NLS and 30 LAST WORD Division, Helen has has contributed to a Manager and chairs a has been involved in Playwright and artist been researching range of newspapers national group on the Library’s digital

ALAMY John Byrne women’s suffrage and magazines archival boxmaking mapping initiatives

www.nls.uk Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 5 Using the National Inside Library of NLS With a collection of Scotland around 16 million printed items, two million maps, 32,000 films, three miles of manuscripts, plus thousands of photos and journals, getting around NLS requires a little navigation

How to join utilities bill. Photos, for To use the Library’s reading identification purposes, can rooms and order up items be taken at Readers’ from the collections, you need Registration. The new to hold a Library Card. Visitor An application form can be Viewing Centre picked up at George IV Bridge or the Causewayside Building, material person, by telephone on request in advance of your or downloaded from www.nls. With a Library Card you 0131 623 3700, by email: visit to the Library. uk. To complete your gain access to the reading [email protected], or through application you will need proof rooms, from where you can the Library website at Online of identity (a driving licence, view material held in the www.nls.uk. If you know what NLS has a vast range of passport or matriculation card Library’s collections. Requests you’re looking for, we electronic resources, including are all valid) and a recent for items can be made in recommend you make your digital versions of reference

Bibliography; Oxford Journals UK Periodicals - Part 2. Digital resources Online; Science Full Text Empire: Travel and Select; ✱ Standards Infobase Anthropology, Economics, From articles on sport to Parliamentary and Web of Knowledge. Missionary and Colonial; Papers, NLS’ licensed digital collections British and Irish Women’s Government Letters and Diaries; Celtic are a superb research tool Culture - A Historical and official Encyclopedia (via NetLibrary); Art and Reference Adviser; Factiva; A wealth of political InfoTrac - custom FAME - information on over information can be viewed newspapers featuring titles literature 2.4 million of the largest UK online, including 18th Century from around the world; John The Library’s digital and Irish companies; ✱ Frost Official Parliamentary Johnson Collection: an collections relating to art & Sullivan; ✱ Global Publications Portal 1688- archive of printed ephemera - and literature include Reference Solution; Hoovers; 1834; ✱ Early English Books Digitised images from the ✱ 19th Century UK Key Note Market Research; Online (EEBO); House of ephemera collection of the Periodicals Part 1. Women’s, product and services Commons Parliamentary Bodleian Library; ✱ Oxford Children’s, Humour and database Kompass Database; Papers; Public Information Dictionary of National Leisure/Sport; British Market Research Monitor and Online and ✱ Making of Biography (ODNB); India, Raj Literary Manuscripts Online Mintel Market. Modern Law - Legal Treatises & Empire; ✱ Sabin Americana, c.1660-1900; Naxos Music 1800-1926. 1500-1926; ✱ Making of the Library; Oxford Music Online; Education, Modern World; ✱ Times Perdita Manuscripts - Women science and History, Digital Archive; Waterloo Writers, 1500-1700; biography and Directory of English RILM Abstracts of Music social science Newspapers & Periodicals Literature; Scottish Women genealogy 1800-1900 which is a Poets of the Romantic Period Educational resources include bibliography of and SCRAN Digital Materials. ALPSP Learned Journals You can access publications, Collection; Blackwell ✱ 17th & 18th For more personal Business Compass Journals; Century Burney information: names, issuing NLS has a wide range of online Electronic Enlightenment; Collection; www.nls.uk/ bodies and resources for businesses, ✱ Environment Index; ✱ 19th Century collections/ subjects; and including Business Insights ✱ GreenFILE; JSTOR - a British Library digital/ ✱ Who’s Who (Reuters); ✱ COBRA-The collection of leading academic Newspapers; (and Who Complete Business journals; ✱ MLA International ✱ 19th Century resources Was Who).

6 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2009 works, massive full-text facsimiles and business NLS location databases (see below for more details). Many of these FILMS resources are available over Scottish Screen Archive the internet to readers 39-41 Montrose Avenue living in Scotland (although Hillington Park certain restrictions do apply Glasgow G52 4LA to some collections, in line Tel 0845 366 4600 with licence agreements). Email [email protected] Your first port of call to access the Library’s MAPS online collection is at Causewayside Building www.nls.uk/collections/ 33 Salisbury Place digital/resources Edinburgh EH9 1SL Tel 0131 623 3970 Email [email protected] Visitor Centre Mon-Fri 9.30am-5pm (Wed NLS’ George IV Bridge 10am-5pm), Sat 9.30am-1pm building boasts a new Visitor Centre. Opened ALL OTHER COLLECTIONS earlier in the year, the George IV Bridge centre features an exhibition Edinburgh EH1 1EW space, a shop selling books, Tel 0131 623 3700 stationery and gift items, a Email [email protected] café and PC terminals with Mon-Fri 9.30am-8.30pm access to NLS catalogues (Wed 10am-8.30pm), and other digital facilities. Sat 9.30am-1pm

George Washington and his army (who can be found in ECCO) cross the Delaware River A broadside report of a murder committed in 1824 FOCUS ON Newspapers Collection The Library’s newspapers collection is one of the largest in the UK. It is also the largest in Scotland. Thanks to the legal deposit privilege, the Reference and ✱ Eighteenth Century Library can request a copy of every newspaper Collections Online (ECCO) published in Scotland. NLS also receives a copy of works and Part 2; Oxford English the main national titles published in the UK. The catalogues Dictionary Online and collections include a representative sample of Oxford Reference Online, the UK’s regional press and a selection of ✱ Credo Reference gives you which contains over 200 overseas newspapers. access to 400 high-quality reference works. The Library also holds the earliest newspaper reference books from the printed in Scotland, incomplete runs of important world’s leading publishers. All collections can 18th-century Scottish titles and 19th-century Other online reference works ✱ be accessed through provincial papers and a selection of early available via NLS include the electronic resources newspapers from all parts of Scotland, ranging ✱ Early American Imprints, search service at the Library. from The Shetland Journal (1836) to The Series 1 - Evans, 1639-1800; Collections that are marked and Wigtownshire Courier (1818). ✱ Early English Books with a ✱ can also be accessed NLS also holds some newspapers on Online 1475-1700 (EEBO); outwith the Library (although microfilm to help reduce the handling of rare ✱ Eighteenth Century some require registration for and fragile material. For more information

MARY EVANS Collections Online (ECCO) remote access). go to www.nls.uk/collections/newspapers NEWS

AWARDS Discover NLS success ust before this issue went been shortlisted for ‘Customer J to press we learned that Magazine of the Year’ at the Discover NLS had picked Independent Publisher Awards. up awards at two recent ceremonies. In October, NLS’ ‘As close as On 25 November, the magazine was you can get’ press campaign picked named ‘Best Corporate Publication – up a Commendation in the ‘Press Not-for-profit & Public Sector Campaign’ category at the Scottish Companies’ at the CorpComms Advertising Awards. The event brings Awards. The following night, the together advertising agencies and magazine won ‘Customer Magazine those producing creative advertising of the Year’ at the Periodical work across Scotland. The NLS Publishers Association (PPA) campaign consists of a range of Scotland Awards, an event that advertisements, each featuring a celebrates the Scottish magazine different pair of hands holding open industry. Discover NLS has also an appropriate book.

NLS Map Curator Paula Williams with a copy of Earth

BY THE NUMBERS 479 microfilm reels of 15th-17th century ‘Scandinavian Culture Series’ imprints are held in the Library’s Scandinavian microform collections. Find out more at www.nls.uk/collections/foreign/

One of the advertisements in the ‘As close as you can get’ campaign scandinavian.html MALCOLM COCHRANE

8 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2009 www.nls.uk COLLECTIONS Giant atlas at NLS

he largest atlas in modern production T has arrived at the Library having travelled half way round the world from Australian publishers Millennium House. Earth weighs in at a hefty 19 kilograms, and some of its gate-fold images measure 1.8 metres. Issued as a limited edition of 3,000 (2,000 blue and 1,000 gold volumes), the publishers will smash the plates to ensure no further copies are available. Scottish firm The XYZ Digital Map Company had input into the award-winning cartography, which is further illustrated by specially commissioned full colour photographs. The atlas is currently displayed in the Causewayside Building, where all our map collections are housed, and has its own special perspex stand, positioned at a perfect height for browsing.

ACCESSIBILITY Help for hard of hearing rts and disability charity The new equipment will be available Doors Open Day. A Artlink, the Fruitmarket for organised group visits and at NLS is Gallery, Talbot Rice public talks, removing the frustration committed to Gallery and NLS have jointly of not being able to hear the speaker. ensuring its collections purchased a portable loop system. The programme was launched at can be enjoyed by as many The system helps those with an event at the Library, which people as possible and will hearing difficulties by reducing, or included an introductory talk on continue to work closely with cutting out, background noise. deaf awareness and the role of Artlink to develop tailored events This initiative is part of the In the hearing dogs. Since the launch, the and to increase access to the Loop programme, which aims to new portable loop system has been public programme. make the arts more accessible to used for guided tours of NLS Find out more about Artlink at people who are hard of hearing. exhibitions, at special events, and on www.artlinkedinburgh.co.uk www.nls.uk Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 9 The John Murray Archive is a uniquely rich collection, bringing together travellers who were poets, politicians, scientists, missionaries, archaeologists and adventurers, who all shared the gift of being able to write. MICHAEL PALIN Michael Palin pictured at the opening of the Library’sMurrayArchivetheJohn exhibition of opening space picturedthe PalinMichael at

Support your National Library Ideas that shaped the world Visions that make the future

Establishing the John Murray Archive within the National Library of Scotland will cost £33.2 million. To date over £29 million has been raised. Help us raise the final 10% needed to ensure this world-class archive is secure for future generations.

To find out more about how you can support the campaign please contact Development Office, National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EW Email [email protected] or telephone 0131 623 3804 www.nls.uk/jma

The National Library of Scotland is a registered Scottish charity. Scottish Charity No. SC011086 NEWS

CURATOR’S CHOICE ‘If war breaks out, men alone can fight it out’ Helen Vincent, Senior Rare Books Curator, on anti-suffrage pamphlets

ne of the most interesting The team from the HUMI Project O aspects of our collections is the wide range of opinions that ONLINE you can find in them. Thanks to centuries of legal deposit and our aim Digital Archive to collect everything relevant to An anti-suffrage manifesto Scotland, arguments from every side of still growing any political debate are documented. prepared to have the British Empire So when I first started researching run by 11,500,000 women and he Library’s Digital Archive our printed collections for a series of 10,000,000 men?’ Women, it is T continues to grow, with the education projects on the Women’s argued, may be able to cope with online collection now boasting Suffrage Movement, the anti-suffrage domestic issues such as health and some remarkable images from the First material I found fascinated me. It’s easy education, but only men are fit for the World War and Ordnance Survey maps today to understand why women ‘responsibilities of imperial from the first half of the 20th century. wanted the right to vote. But why did government’. A pamphlet, by Grace In addition, the archive contains scans people object? Saxon Mills, states that ‘all of important literary works, such as a One box of pamphlets provided government rests ultimately on force, first edition of Robert Louis some answers. They come from the to which women, owing to physical, Stevenson’s Kidnapped published in Library of the Scottish National Anti- moral, and social reasons, are not 1886, and of treasures such as the Suffrage League, one of a number capable of contributing’. Strikingly, Gutenberg Bible of 1453-55, the first of anti-suffrage societies set up to on the brink of the First World War, book printed using moveable type. combat the pro-suffrage campaigners. ‘Manifesto: No Votes for Women’ The process involved in producing Ironically many of its chief members proclaims that ‘If war breaks out, high-quality digital facsimiles of were women, including leading men alone can fight it out.’ precious early printed books and Scottish aristocrat Lady Tullibardine After the first Act of Parliament manuscripts can be complex. The (who as Duchess of Atholl would granting women the right to vote scanning of the Gutenberg Bible took become the first female Scottish MP - was passed in 1918, the debate came place over the course of three weeks and is featured in the previous issue of to an end, and the publications of the and involved a team of seven people Discover NLS). ‘Electors! Why do you Anti-Suffrage League faded into from the HUMI Project, Keio send Members to Parliament?’ begins obscurity. Today they remain a University, Tokyo which generously one pamphlet. The reason, according reminder of how perfectly intelligent financed this work. The team to the leaflet, is so that they can carry and respectable men and women photographed every part of the out the wishes of the (male) electorate – could hold an opinion that now National Library’s copy of the Bible, and not to seems very strange. I wonder what and then around a year later delivered a introduce a bill ideas from 2009 held in our set of over 1,400 images. giving women collections will seem equally peculiar NLS’ programme of digitisation lets the vote, to scholars of the future? anybody with access to a computer against men’s For more information visit view countless other rare and wishes. http://suffragettes.nls.uk important works. Another Explore NLS’ Digital Archive at pamphlet asks http://digital.nls.uk ‘Are you

Helen Vincent with some of the

MALCOLM COCHRANE pamphlets

The Gutenberg Bible

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 11 EXHIBITION Paul Sandby Picturing Britain icturing Britain, a major P exhibition of the work of the artist and topographical draughtsman Paul Sandby (1731- 1809), is touring the country and will be in Edinburgh from November to February. Commemorating the bicentenary of Sandby’s death, this is the first exhibition devoted to this pioneering figure in the development of British landscape painting, watercolour and topographical drawing. It includes examples of his work from all the major collections. In 1747, Sandby was appointed chief draughtsman to the Roy Military Survey of Scotland (the most detailed map of the Scottish mainland in the entire 18th century). He worked in Scotland for a further five years, drafting several striking and colourful military maps, plans and views. The exhibition features two original items from this period held by NLS, as well as other Scottish material, including part of the Roy map itself.

The Paul Sandby exhibition visits the National Gallery of Scotland, Paul Sandby’s plan of Edinburgh from 7 November 2009 Castle Tyrim in Muydart to 7 February 2010

THEATRE A child’s view as Darwin play comes to NLS et in what was called S a ‘Darwinascope time machine’, This View of Life, a play written by NLS’ Writer-in-Residence Peter Arnott, proved to be a great success during its recent run across several venues, including the Library. The production, a collaboration with the TAG Theatre Company, introduced around 1,300 A scene from primary school children to the life Peter Arnott’s and works of Charles Darwin. This View of Life TAG TAG THEATRE

12 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2009 NEWS

DIGITAL RESOURCE PREMIERE New Celebrating Stevenson Scottish films website o coincide with the UNESCO T World Day for Audiovisual goes Heritage, on 27 October 2009 NLS launched a new initiative to digitise complete films from the online National Moving Images collection at the Library. In the first stage of the programme, 100 full films will be available on the Scottish Screen Archive website, as well as 1,000 film clips. The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage aims to raise awareness of the importance for national identities of moving images and recorded Robert Louis sounds. It also focuses on the need to Stevenson protect vintage audiovisual material. Throughout the day, a sequence aunched in November, synopses, and information about of short films were screened in a L Edinburgh Napier publication and reception. Also continuous loop at the National University’s Robert included are biographical pages on Library of Scotland’s café at George Louis Stevenson website is the most Stevenson, and information on his IV Bridge, including a film depicting comprehensive online resource on family, friends, and those authors what is believed to be the earliest the life and times of one of the 19th that exerted an influence on his work. personal wedding caught on century’s most famous writers. Other parts of the website provide camera in the British isles. The The development of the website information about locations to visit Wedding of the 4th Marquess of was made possible thanks to funding and links to tourist information. Bute, which dates from 1905, from the Carnegie Trust for the Details of RLS museums and libraries has recently been restored by Universities of Scotland. It contains with significant Stevenson collections the Scottish Screen Archive. pages devoted to each (including NLS) are also available. On the same day, a curators’ of Stevenson’s texts, choice of ‘visual delights’ was The Wallace including plot screened at the Glasgow Film Monument www.robert-louis-stevenson.org Theatre, including the premiere of two recently discovered early films. NLS also recently provided Scottish schools with 200 clips via a new educational website. Scotland on UPDATE Screen was developed jointly with Learning and Teaching Scotland ‘Missing’ document and Scottish Screen. The site allows students and teachers to view, was never lost download and re-use the clips, which date from 1895 to the 1980s. arlier in the year, The Cate, ‘but for the most part these are E Scotsman ran a story items that have been used by Visit the website at that the original plans our readers and then filed away http://scotlandonscreen.org.uk for the Wallace Monument had on the wrong shelves. gone missing and might even have ‘In respect of The Scotsman story, been stolen from the Library. After the actual item that the journalist speaking with the Library’s noticed on our list wasn’t the Director of Collections and original Wallace Monument plans, Research, Cate Newton, Discover but a four-page pamphlet produced NLS can reveal the truth behind at that time, that is of far less the headlines. significance. Nonetheless, we did ‘We have a list of around 200 subsequently track that pamphlet items that are missing from our down. Just as expected, it had been collection of 16 million,’ explains misfiled on the wrong shelf.’

SHUTTERSTOCK, NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND A 1905 wedding caught on camera

www.nls.uk Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 13 NEWS

Margaret Bennett Winter events at NLS All events take place at the and others as they discuss Gynt to The Bacchae. National Library of Scotland, this important theatrical A panel of guests will George IV Bridge, unless work and its legacy. look at why Scotland otherwise stated needed NTS. STANZA 2010 – FESTIVAL PROGRAMME LAUNCH SCOTTISH 28 January, 6pm CUSTOMS FROM n Join renowned poet Kei THE CRADLE TO Miller to launch StAnza’s THE GRAVE 2010 poetry festival 11 February, 6pm programme, which this year n NLS is delighted will feature Seamus Heaney, to welcome Linton Kwesi Johnson, Margaret Bennett, Dennis O’Driscoll, Don author, folklorist, Paterson and others. ethnologist and singer. Her work Denise Mina THE BIRTH OF THE Scottish Customs NATIONAL THEATRE OF spans several MURIEL SPARK SOCIETY SCOTLAND centuries of Scottish tradition. ANNUAL LECTURE 9 February, 6pm to discuss which books have 13 January, 6pm n With over 117 productions in JOHN MURRAY, LORD BYRON changed their lives. n Novelist Denise Mina over 114 locations the National AND CAROLINE LAMB reflects on the life and has 15 February, 6pm THE work of Muriel Spark. achieved much in its first four n What was the relationship 1985 – A SEASON OF years, from the multi-award between the London IMPORTANCE THE CHEVIOT, THE winning Black Watch and Peer publisher, the notorious 8 March, 6pm STAG AND THE BLACK, poet and the tempestuous n With productions BLACK OIL (married) Regency belle? including Losing Venice, 26 January, 6pm Peter Arnott presents Elizabeth Gordon Quinn and n Written by John McGrath dramatised readings from White Rose the 1985 season and performed by the 7:84 the John Murray Archive. at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre Company, The Theatre had a major impact Cheviot, the Stag and the THE BOOK THAT CHANGED on the theatrical landscape Black, Black Oil tells the MY LIFE of Scotland. Join a panel of story of economic change 4 March, 6pm experts as they look back in the Highlands, from n To celebrate the launch on this seminal year. the Clearances to the oil of new collection The Book boom of the 1970s. Join That Changed My Life, award- Book events online at original cast members Liz winning author AL Kennedy www.nls.uk/events/booking MacLennan, will be joined by Sara Sheridan or call 0131 623 3918

EDINBURGH THE FOCUS FOR NEW DIGITAL MAPPING PROJECT

In September, work began on a combine this with maps of the city project to create, with the aid of new held by the Library. The data and maps digital technologies, easy tools for will be used together to create new combining historical information with social, cultural and political geo-referenced maps. Visualising geographies of the city at various Urban Geographies, a 15-month times and dates. Knowledge Transfer Fellowship, is a While the focus is on Edinburgh, collaborative venture with Edinburgh the project will also demonstrate how University and is funded by the Arts new and existing research on other and Humanities Research Council. towns, cities and villages can be linked The project will use existing to freely-available, geo-referenced historical research data on Edinburgh, mapping and imagery. obtained from the census, property registers and directories, and For more: geo.nls.uk/urbhist Edinburgh will be the subject of the new maps

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 15 EXPLORATION First at the North Pole: Cook or Peary? Foreign Collections Curator John Bowles presents publications and postcards from NLS’ polar holdings

erched at the very crest of the globe, the One pair North Pole has always been an enticing of portrait prospect for adventurers. But in the early postcards record years of the 20th century, international simply that Cook controversy raged as two Americans and ‘reached the pole Ptheir support teams lodged competing claims to April 21, 1908’, being the first to reach the top of the world. while Peary reached The Americans in question were Frederick Cook, ‘the goal of his a medical doctor, and Robert Peary, a naval officer. life’s ambition Cook reported he had reached the Pole on 21 April April 6, 1909’. 1908, but couldn’t make this claim until he returned to civilisation again in September 1909. Five days Contemporary later came the announcement from Peary that he newspaper accounts had reached the Pole on 6 April 1909. give a flavour of reactions While Cook’s claim has been discounted by to the dispute. ‘Polar feud most polar authorities, uncertainty has remained brews as Peary is awaited’ regarding Peary’s precise achievement. He was the front-page undoubtedly travelled a lot nearer to the Pole than headline on The St Louis Cook, but his calculations of the actual distance that Times of 7 September he travelled are regarded by many as highly suspect. 1909, alongside the picture The Library’s polar collections contain a number of caption ‘Rival American items – both serious and humorous – which reflect discoverers of the North the global interest aroused by this polar punch-up. Pole and wives who for years have shared dislike.’

French satirical magazine L’Assiette au Beurre, dated 16 October 1909, shows two fur-clad explorers, both clutching American flags, grappling with each other atop the globe. From Sweden there’s a cloth-backed folded board game of 1910, Kampen om Nordpolen, involving a race to the North Pole. Players could choose either the Cook or the Peary route in their race.

16 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2010 In Discovered!, a cartoon postcard, the figure of Cook, carrying the Stars and Stripes, appears over the side of a globe, where he is confronted with the ice-encrusted head of Peary sticking through the site of the North Pole.

Peary’s own poster for his lecture tour claimed that it would ‘give a complete account of his discovery of the North Pole and will display pictures never before seen in public’.

How Cook and Peary Discovered the North Pole is a set of 50 cards illustrating episodes from the two explorers’ accounts of their polar conquests. No. 49 reproduces a cartoon, ‘Whose little Girlie are you?’, showing the explorers fighting each other under the gaze of a polar nymph.

Like many other explorers, both Cook and Peary struggled to obtain financial backing for their journeys and on their return had to recoup expenses by undertaking lecture tours. The collections include a four-page advertising leaflet for a lecture tour by Cook.

Another illustrated postcard sees The Cook-ed-up Peary-odd-ical the Stars and Dictionary by Paul Dash, published Stripes nailed in Boston in 1910, cast a sardonic to the ‘axis of the look at the whole North Pole circus. world’, claiming A typical entry is that for ‘eskimo’ – victory for ‘A fuzzy biped who does all the work America, and and gets little glory… a privileged race showing both that can swap wives without getting Cook and Peary. their names in the papers.’

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 17 EXHIBITION THEATRE IN THE SPOTLIGHT Sally Harrower and Andrew Martin talk to Mark Fisher about a new exhibition celebrating Scottish theatre over the last four decades

18 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2009 enry Ford’s Badges and banners are not all they had. promise of any Shortly after being given the last of the colour ‘so long archive, NLS bought one of 7:84 Scotland’s as it is black’ earliest artefacts: the original set for The served the A lot of Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil. American people have This is a giant pop-up book painted by motor industry John Byrne which the pioneering company well. Curiously, loved using toured around the church halls and it has also done language community centres of rural Scotland in wonders for and I think 1973. From the front it looks in pretty good theatre in condition, but a peek behind reveals the gaffer Scotland. that is a tape and scuffs that tell their own tale of the The story of the modern Scottish stage is Scottish trait set’s frontline duty. Ground-breaking on a sandwiched between two world-conquering number of levels, the play inspired several plays, both with black in the title. generations of theatre-makers to forge a HIt begins in 1973 with John McGrath’s The career on the stage. Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil McGrath’s genius was to tell a history of and it ends in 2007 with ’s economic exploitation ­– from the Highland Black Watch. Throw in ’s Clearances to the discovery of ­­– , which has enjoyed scores of without becoming dull and didactic. The revivals around the world since its debut in message might have been weighty, but the the 2005 Edinburgh International Festival, medium was the opposite: a raucous ceilidh and it starts to look like a conspiracy, full of music, songs and jokes that had more especially if you consider the warm reception in common with variety entertainment than given to such Scottish plays as Des Dillon’s classical drama. It was political theatre, in Six Black Candles and Vox Motus’s recent other words, that was not only about the Bright Black. people but of the people, and it established a The scale of the successes of McGrath tradition in Scotland of performances that and Burke is fortuitous for NLS. It means the acknowledged a more equitable relationship Curtain Up winter exhibition, celebrating between actor and audience. the Library’s substantial archive of theatre- ‘We’re using The Cheviot, the Stag and the related material, can start and end with Black, Black Oil as a starting point, with a black-to-black triumphs that put Scottish nod towards the influences that might have culture on the international map. ‘We informed it, such as the variety tradition, decided we’d like to highlight the modern Gaelic song and The Great Northern Welly collection in the exhibition space,’ says Boot Show,’ says Sally, referring to a lively Manuscripts Curator Sally Harrower, celebration of the Upper Clyde shipbuilders’ who has put together the exhibition with Liz Lochhead’s work-in starring in 1972. Andrew Martin, Curator of Modern Scottish Mary Queen of ‘Then there’s a big chunk of material about Collections. ‘The main archives that we Scots Got Her the play itself, including the stage set.’ have here pinned us to the 1970s onwards.’ Head Chopped Off With such an exuberant starting point, There is another reason for starting with NLS’ curators realised that an exhibition The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, focusing only on the printed word would be Black Oil. NLS is privileged to hold inadequate. The collection has a rich treasure the official archive of 7:84 Scotland, trove of written material (Sally has the theatre company set up by John catalogued 3,000 scripts, many of McGrath with a left-wing political them unproduced and unpublished, agenda informed by the statistic that and reckons there might be more), but 7% of the population owned 84% the characteristic quality shared by The of the wealth. Earlier this year, Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Sally received the final delivery Oil and ’s production of of material from the company, Black Watch for the National Theatre of which ceased trading at the end Scotland is their theatricality. Whether it of 2008. ‘That was a really sad is the energy of the actors or the day for me,’ she says. ‘All these spectacle of the staging, theatre is always odds and ends came in, like a bag about more than words. ‘We made a of badges – because they were a move away from writers to events and very badgey company – and a experiences,’ says Andrew. ‘Focusing marching banner.’ on the writers was a wee bit artificial CHRIS BLOTT

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 19 EXHIBITION

Right Bondagers by Sue Glover Below Theatrical poster for Black Watch

so we broadened it to include things like the Edinburgh Festival and the .’ Luckily, the Library’s collection does not stop at books, even though some items, such as Byrne’s set, can cause storage headaches. NLS certainly has plenty of published texts and unpublished scripts – the archive of Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre alone contributes many of these. Theatre archives include ephemera such as programmes, posters and photographs and, with some borrowing from theatre companies and the Scottish Theatre Archive at Glasgow University, the curators have tried to convey a sense of the three-dimensional presence of the stage. Items on loan from the National Theatre of Scotland, for example, include the dress worn by Siobhan Redmond when she played Elizabeth in Schiller’s Mary Stuart in 2006. ‘We’ve got some lovely things including Alan What has not gone out of fashion is an Cumming’s kilt from interest in language. Fewer playwrights are The Bacchae and the original bonnets writing in Scots today, but many make from Sue Glover’s Bondagers,’ says vigorous use of dialect, from the working- Andrew, who also has the loan of props, class of Gregory Burke to the Glasgow costumes and set models from the patter of Tony Roper’s The Steamie, and no Citizens and the Traverse. one does magpie-like linguistic eclecticism as They have divided the exhibition into six well as Liz Lochhead. ‘A lot of people have scenes, making the journey thematic rather loved using language and I think that is a than chronological. After the 7:84 material of Scottish trait,’ says Andrew. ‘You get it in the first scene, we are introduced to the the poetic side of things and also in that Traverse, the Citizens and some smaller witty repartee and rhetoric that runs theatre companies, such as Gerry Mulgrew’s through everything.’ Communicado, to outline what Sally calls the Other visions of Scotland covered by this ‘diversity of means of production leading to a part of the exhibition include Sue Glover’s thriving theatre scene’. Bondagers, about the bonded female labour In scene three, we turn to the plays and of the 19th-century Borders, and 7:84’s consider the versions of Scotland and Scottish Clydebuilt season in 1982, a revival of history that have been put on the stage. neglected early-20th century working-class The history play was in vogue in the 1970s plays depicting what Andrew calls ‘hard man/ and 1980s, a reflection perhaps of a nation strong woman city life’. ‘It’s a snapshot of a exploring its past to help define its identity variety of plays that are set in Scotland,’ he for today. In plays such as The Jesuit by says. ‘It’s different Scotlands – rural, city, Donald Campbell (about John Ogilvie, who past and present.’ died upholding his Catholic faith in 1615), Next we explore the international impact of writers used the past to inform the present. Scottish theatre. Several years before Since Liz Lochhead’s 1987 masterpiece Blackbird was a hit on Broadway, David Mary Queen of Scots Got her Head Chopped I think Harrower wrote the mysterious, elemental Off, recently revived by the National people will Knives in Hens, which has had a similarly Theatre of Scotland, the historical drama extended life in translations such as the has been less common ­and by the time we be surprised Danish Knive i Hons and German Messer in got to Black Watch it was enough to that we’ve Hennen. In the exhibition, they’ve got a copy condense the history of the regiment into a of the Norwegian Knivar i Høner. Also brief, if memorable, vignette of military got a lot of represented is the prolific , who costume changes. this material has explored the idea of internationalism in NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND, SEAN HUDSON

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 21 EXHIBITION

many of his plays and has enjoyed success depth at some of the themes. During the long further afield. And it’s in this section that we run of the exhibition there will be a number come across the Edinburgh International of associated events, including a reunion of Festival, the opportunity for Scotland to several of the company members from The showcase itself on a global stage and the Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil, chance for Scottish audiences to see major among them Bill Paterson, John Bett and names of world theatre from Ninagawa Elizabeth MacLennan; a discussion involving to Peter Stein. the generation of playwrights who emerged The fifth scene traces the history of the from the Traverse in 1985, including Jo campaign for a national theatre in Scotland, (formerly John) Clifford, Peter Arnott and looking at attempts at Edinburgh’s Royal Chris Hannan; and the launch of a book Lyceum in the 1970s, the Scottish Theatre of plays by Alasdair Gray. Company in the 1980s and the National ‘It was a good opportunity to exploit Theatre for Scotland Campaign in the 1990s, the archives,’ says Andrew. ‘I think people bringing us up to date with the launch of the Alan Cumming in will be surprised that we’ve got a lot of National Theatre of Scotland in 2006. The Bacchae this material. It will look very eye-catching ‘We end with Black Watch as an example and dramatic.’ of a big success and a play by a Scottish writer,’ says Andrew. Curtain Up : 40 Years of Scottish Theatre The final scene is the interactive area, runs from 19 December 2009 to 3 May 2010 combining plays with playfulness and at the National Library of Scotland, providing the opportunity to look in greater George IV Bridge

The establishment of a nationhood and even in theatre itself. THE NATIONAL 1999 meant that, for the It was the new first time, there was a organisation’s tremendous THEATRE OF generation of politicians good fortune that in its both willing and able to very first year it produced back a national scheme. Black Watch. Gregory SCOTLAND Thus in 2006, the Burke’s play, as directed by FROM PIPEDREAM TO BLACK WATCH National Theatre of John Tiffany, was based on Scotland launched with an interviews with soldiers ‘Why not be national?’ was First National Theatre’ in a event called Home that set who had fought in Iraq at the rallying cry of The book of the same name. In the agenda for the kind of the exact moment that the Scotsman’s theatre critic, the 1920s, the Scottish organisation this could be. Black Watch regiment was filled with patriotic pride National Players had It consisted of ten being amalgamated into after the first-night visions of a ‘Scottish productions in every the Royal Regiment of staging of Sir Walter National Theatre along the corner of the country, Scotland. The play Scott’s Rob Roy. ‘Why lines of the Abbey Theatre ranging from a puppet managed to combine an should we not be proud in ’, an idea not so far show in a disused shop in urgent topicality with of our national genius, removed from that of Clive Stornoway to a drama in a thrilling theatricality, humour, music, kindness Perry at Edinburgh’s Royal drill hall in . Here not to mention the and fidelity?’ Lyceum in the late-1960s was a national theatre playwright’s tremendous The unnamed critic was and Ewan Hooper, who set prepared to make you empathy for the ordinary surely not the only one to up the touring Scottish question the very idea of squaddie. The result was be so stirred, yet this was Theatre Company Scottish theatre’s biggest 1819 and it would be the in 1981. hit since The best part of two centuries There are many Cheviot, the Stag before Scotland would get reasons for the and the Black, Black its own national theatre. long wait, but it is Oil and a tour of duty Rob Roy had appeared at no coincidence that took in New Edinburgh’s Theatre Royal, that the National York, New Zealand on the east end of Princes Theatre of and London. Street, described a Scotland century later by Donald happened Playbill from the Mackenzie as ‘Scotland’s when it did. Theatre Royal RHUARY GRANT

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 23 TREASURES

Robert Forbes risked everything to capture n today’s age of instant technology, we can see conflict unfolding as it happens eyewitness accounts of the Jacobite flight on our screens. Back in the 18th century, from Culloden. The result, part of the latest however, things were slower – news of defeat or victory took hours, days even, to Treasures display, was The Lyon in Mourning. make its way from the battleground to the Clare Harris takes a closer look public consciousness. That’s what makes Robert Forbes’ The Lyon in Mourning so significant in both ambition and scope. This historical work, on show as part of NLS’ Treasures display, is a collection of interviews, letters, first-hand accounts and Ieven scraps of fabric that combine to chart the Jacobite rising and the eventual defeat and exile End of a of its figurehead, Charles Edward Stuart. Forbes worked quickly, capturing testimonies while they remained fresh and putting them together in ‘utmost secrecy’. Born in Rayne, Aberdeenshire, the only son of a rebellion schoolmaster and a servant, Robert Forbes was 24 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2009 NLS Treasures NLS holds some of the manuscript of The most rare and important Case of the Illustrious books, manuscripts Client, bought in the and collections in the summer of 2007. world. Some are so The Robert Burns precious that they can manuscript The Battle of only be displayed for Sherramuir, purchased short periods of time, at auction in the USA in to stop them from January 2009 has also succumbing to decay. been on display. The Library began The Lyon in Mourning will displaying these be on show at National Treasures in September Library of Scotland from 2009, allowing visitors 20 November to 4 to to see such gems as January, 2010. The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s exhibition is free.

Far Left Cloth stuck every aspect of the rising, to the inside cover from the moment Charles Left The title page of Stuart landed on Scottish The Lyon in Mourning shores to the enduring military and political consequences. What he put to paper was as real as today’s live-feed reportage. A perfectly preserved fragment of a woman’s gown is tacked to the inside cover of one volume, with a note reading ‘a piece of that identical gown that the Prince wore for four or five days, when he was obliged to disguise himself in a female dress under the name of Bettie Burk.’ This wonderful glimpse brings colour to the first- hand accounts inside, such as that obtained from Jacobite cavalryman Edward Burk, or Ned for short, who describes the moment he stumbled across Prince Charlie himself, ‘having no right guide and very few along with him’, attempting to make his way from the battlefield of Culloden to safety. There follows a now well-told story of flight through Highland glens and Hebridean sounds to the boat of one Flora MacDonald, over the sea to baptised into the Episcopalian church in 1708. Skye. It was from Ned Burk, recounts Forbes, that He would go on to become a minister and, in 1762, Charles plucked the name of his female alter ego. Bishop of Ross and Caithness. His was the church Working under the tightest security, Forbes of the Jacobites, and as such he aligned himself with produced eight manuscript volumes, each their cause – the of the Stuart line to the What Forbes numbering more than 200 pages, within throne. Indeed, after being prevented from taking put to paper the five years following Culloden. In 1761 he started his seat as the Bishop of in 1765, he the ninth volume, followed by a tenth in 1775. assisted in secret but never realised plans for a was as real This last remains unfinished, as on 18 November Protestant marriage for Charles Edward, with as today’s of the same year Forbes died in Leith. Thirteen the aim of producing an acceptable Stuart heir. live-feed years later came the death of Charles Stuart. Forbes had joined the Jacobite rising in 1745, The Lyon in Mourning remains one of the only to be arrested and held in Stirling and reportage most vivid accounts of Scottish history, precisely Edinburgh Castles until May 1746, just one because it told the tale of everyone involved. month after Charles Stuart’s followers were Extracts were published in 1834 by Robert defeated at the battle of Culloden. It was at Chambers as The Jacobite Memoirs of the Rebellion that point that he began work on The Lyon in of 1745, and in 1895 the full text was edited by Mourning, the Lyon of the title signifying Scotland. Henry Paton and published by the Scottish While Forbes had penned other articles, History Society. It became one of the keystones of translations and journals, this history would be the Scottish canon, as the country moved from his defining work. In it, he delved deep into religious turbulence to the Enlightenment.

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 25 IN SEARCH OF SPACE

How do you fit an ever-growing collection of books, manuscripts and other objects into a finite space? NLS trustee Willis Pickard investigates

26 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2010 BEHIND THE SCENES

hanks to acquisitions Since 2004, the space rationalisation project has and legal deposit, there is saved over 6000 metres, which is the equivalent a relentless cascade of of almost £2 million if new built space had been books, journals and provided. Steve Scott says that previous ways of maps arriving at NLS. Redesigning storing books and journals were no longer feasible: Such is the rate, the the shelves ‘A line had to be drawn in the sand.’ Library requires an that store One result is that books are not now shelved by extra 3,000 metres of subject classification. That may sound like library shelf space each year children’s anathema, but Steve points out that no one browses in its two Edinburgh books in their NLS’ stacks. Everyone, staff as well as readers, uses buildings at George the online catalogues to pursue a line of enquiry. IV Bridge and weird and So, armed with the shelf number, the book fetchers Causewayside to wonderful can just as easily retrieve required material as if, accommodate the intake. shapes has say, all books about the Jacobites were standing Space is running out as the 16 million items in the shoulder to shoulder courtesy of a traditional collections continue to grow. The ideal solution produced classification scheme. would be to find another building, but that is savings of up The rationalisation project is in one sense unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future. So to 50% utilitarian but Steve and his team never forget Tthe priority is to use existing space more efficiently. that it is only part of a wider purpose: ‘We Fortunately Steve Scott, the Library’s Collection are working in a warehouse but our aim is to Support Services Manager, has been aware preserve the collections and make them as of the problem for some years and with his accessible as possible.’ colleagues has devised ways to store material more tightly without making it less accessible. The problem first struck home when the fast- Steve Scott growing category of paperback books was about to manages the overwhelm the area dedicated to it. The solution ‘is Library’s storage not rocket science,’ Steve says. ‘It’s just common sense – how can we best use the space?’ He points to a humble cardboard box, the kind in which books and journals are stored. In the past, material was put into boxes and placed on shelves regardless of how much spare space was left in the boxes and around the shelves. For the past five years that approach has been replaced by coordinated efforts to design better-shaped boxes and to put them on the shelves in such a way that there are no gaps around them, or between one row of boxes and the row behind it. A project team led by one of Steve’s managers, Jim Young, has worked with the Estates Department of the Library to identify areas where savings can be made. One problem was that the shelving at Causewayside differs from that at George IV Bridge. For an individual item, space saving may seem slight, hardly worth bothering about. But the scale of the Library’s holdings is such that, multiplied, the space that can be clawed back goes a good way to reducing the strain on the shelves from the many thousands of items being added each year. Redesigning the shelves that store children’s How the numbers stack up books in their weird and wonderful shapes has n It has been from the Library This represents a produced savings of up to 50%. estimated that NLS building at George IV real estate saving Lessons can be drawn from The Sun, too. The requires around 17,000 Bridge out across the of £1.9 million. newspaper arrives every day, in its London and metres of space Firth of Forth and to n In 2008 alone, NLS’ Scottish editions. One of the Library team noted to house the the outskirts of collection grew by that over the years its size had been reduced and it collections over the Kirkcaldy. 3,167 metres of no longer took up all of its box. So the conservators next five years. n To date, the space shelving space. have redesigned its housing, and a box-making n If all this shelving rationalisation project That’s enough space machine turns out a bespoke product specially were lined up end-to- has saved 6,011 to hold 56,980 copies

MALCOLM COCHRANE designed to preserve The Sun for the nation. end, it would stretch metres of shelving. of War and Peace.

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 27 MY NLS

Chris Tabraham, left, with NLS’ Chris Fleet

Touring Scotland by laptop Chris Tabraham, Historic Scotland’s Principal Historian, know the depth of your nearest loch) and much more. But for me it’s the wonderful collection on his personal interest in the Library’s map collection of military maps from the 18th century that love maps. I have done ever since I was has drawn me to its portal time and again. ‘knee-high to a grasshopper’. At school, In my nearly 40 years with Historic Scotland I was torn between reading geography or and its predecessor bodies, I’ve had a close history at university. The latter won. But to involvement with some of our nation’s great my joy, I subsequently discovered just how military sites, from mighty Edinburgh Castle Iimportant maps were in my job as a historian. and Fort George to the military roads threading And that’s where the NLS map collection their way through the Highlands. Quite comes in. With over two million sheet maps, honestly, I don’t know where our present state of 15,000 atlases, 100,000 maps on microfilm, knowledge would be without the help of either the over a terabyte of digital mapping, not to 400 plus 18th-century Board of Ordnance maps mention umpteen gazetteers, cartographic and plans preserved in Causewayside, or of the reference books, periodicals and map ephemera, ever-helpful staff who curate them. you want for nothing. If it was in the retail Until a few years ago, I had no option but to business, they’d call it something like World journey to Causewayside to consult the maps of Maps. With so vast a collection, little wonder themselves. But the Library’s marvellous map it had to move out of George IV Bridge in the website means that today I can peruse them all, early 1970s, initially to an old biscuit factory and another 20,000 high-resolution images, If it was in on Causewayside, and then from 1988 to a new from the comfort of my own laptop. It’s great the retail headquarters on the same site, specially designed to be able to tour late 16th-century Scotland business, by Sir Basil Spence’s architectural practice. courtesy of Timothy Pont, or mid 18th-century There’s something for everyone in the map Scotland with William Roy, without having to they’d call it collection. There are maps of the whole country move a muscle. At the click of a button, I can something dating from 1560, county maps and town plans zoom in or out, pan up, down, left and right. like World from 1580, Ordnance Survey maps, estate maps There’s only one drawback. I don’t get to see from the 1770s, coastal maps and Admiralty the helpful and personable staff that curate this

of Maps charts, bathymetrical maps (in case you want to wonderful collection as often as I used to. MALCOLM COCHRANE

28 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2009 www.nls.uk PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Safe for Rab Jackson the future It’s a massive task to ensure NLS’ literary treasures are maintained and preserved for present and future generations. Rab Jackson, Preservation and Conservation Manager, tells us how his team can even overcome floods

What is the role of the Preservation and Conservation division at the Library? Our job is to preserve the items in the collection so that not only can you or I see them, but our children will also be able to enjoy them. In February 2009 there was a flood at NLS. I am very keen for material to be available for What happened? today’s users as well as tomorrow’s, and although A four-inch pipe broke and around 32,000 litres people think of preservation as being in conflict Our work of water escaped. It happened on level 12, and with access, I don’t believe that’s the case. the water spread into the structure of the building. Our work ensures that items in the collection ensures that We needed to ensure we didn’t get a massive can be enjoyed today, without damaging them items in the mould infestation, but we also wanted to dry for future generations. the building out. However, drying it too quickly collection would have run the risk of damaging the books. With 16 million items in the Library is it tough to can be keep on top of the job? enjoyed How did you respond? It certainly throws up challenges. With 19 When books and manuscripts get damaged in members of staff in the Preservation and today, this way you have a 48-hour window in which Conservation division, we have to allocate the without to operate (wet material left unattended for more resources as carefully as possible. We believe one than 48 hours will start suffering from mould aspect of our work that’s particularly important is damaging infestation). You have to get air moving through education for staff and readers, so people know them for the collection and we did that. Volunteers were how they can help keep the collections safe for the future called in and we worked steadily through that future. We show staff in all parts of the Library crucial period. I have to say that the assistance how to handle books and paper. generations from numerous members of staff on the night Education is very important. You will see signs was absolutely exceptional, and it’s a testament at the Library saying ‘no food and drink’, and you to all of those people, plus our friends in other might think what harm would it do? But the organisations in Scotland, that the extent of crumbs on your fingers can easily spill onto the the damage was ultimately very minimal. pages of a book, and this in turn encourages pests such as rats and mice, who once they’ve finished The Library’s digital preservation work will be eating the crumbs will make a start on the paper. explored in a future issue of Discover NLS

Taking care of your books You don’t need a team of 19 to keep your own collection safe. Here are Rab’s top tips

Make sure your When you open that’s the part of they can take the 1books are not 3the book, try not the book opposite brunt of the damage, in direct sunlight. to open it flat, and from, and parallel to, protecting the items Clean hands avoid breaking the the spine. held inside. 2are important. back of the spine. Boxing valuable Grease and dirt can You should never 5collections using For more on looking be transferred onto 4store volumes on archival boxes (acid after your library pages by hands. their fore-edge – free) is advised, as www.bl.uk/npo MALCOLM COCHRANE

Winter 2009 | DISCOVER NLS | 29 LAST WORD

Playwright and artist John Byrne is just one of the several thousands of people represented in the Library’s collections orn in 1940 in Paisley, John Byrne trained as a painter, attending between 1958 and 1963. He had been schooled in colour from the age of 17 during his Bwork as a ‘slab boy’, mixing shades for the local carpet factory. After art school he went on to work as a graphic designer while gaining repute for his art, showing in 1967 at London’s Portal Gallery. As the 1970s kicked off, Byrne’s breadth of talent began to show. He hand-painted theatre sets for John McGrath’s groundbreaking company 7:84, and moved further towards the stage when he wrote his first play, Writer’s Cramp, in 1977. This was followed by the famous Slab Boys (1978). Bringing the carpet factory floor to life, the play and its companions in the Slab Boys Trilogy became modern classics. It was during the 1970s that Byrne also painted this self portrait [left], fresh from a mind-expanding trip to California. He wrote and drew characters for Tutti Frutti (1987), the boisterous TV series starring Emma Thompson and , and he continues to create, recently opening an exhibition of new work at Glasgow Print Studio. A range of Byrne’s work can be found at the Library. Highlights include a 1975 STV documentary in which the artist discusses his 7:84 set designs, as well as showing off what may be his largest work – a colourful mural painted on the gable end of a Glasgow tenement.

For more on Scottish theatre, page 18

Discover more Send your address details to [email protected] and we’ll mail you Discover NLS for free. Offer open to UK residents only. John Byrne’s Read the magazine online at psychedelic www.nls.uk/about/discover-nls self-portrait NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND

30 | DISCOVER NLS | Winter 2009 www.nls.uk