CONTENTS Notes from the Chair and Archive

Issue No. 27 Oct. 2009

Perth Tolbooth, where Jacobites were imprisoned after the ’ 45

CONTENTS Page

Notes from the Chair and Archive News 2 Perthshire in the ’45 Jacobite Rising 5 Was the Stone of Scone Quarried here? 11 May I introduce 13

A Coming Dark Age for Archives? 15 ...and how PKC might cope 19

Picture courtesy of AK Bell Library Local Studies Section Chairman’s Notes

2009 is still proving to be a busy and interesting year for the Friends.

We have enjoyed some memorable talks this year: from Andrew Nicoll, Archivist of the Scottish Catholic Archive (SCA) about the documents in his care; from Andrew Driver about Buildings at Risk in Perthshire with many beautiful photographs, some showing "before and after" scenes; from Tommy Smyth (Archivist at Balhousie Castle) on the History of the Black Watch ; and last, but not least, Rhoda Fothergill's pair of superb and beautifully-illustrated talks, on Perth in the 1920s and Perth in the 1930s.

As I write, the Friends' summer outing to the SCA (inspired by Andrew Nicoll's talk) and the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) is still fresh in the memo- ries of those of us fortunate enough to participate. We received a very warm welcome from both Archives and, certainly in my case, learned a great deal about them. It was, for exam- ple, news to me that servicemen in the First World War often wrote their wills on whatever scrap of paper (or cigarette packet!) they could find, and that the wills of those who died on active service are kept in the NAS. By the way, members who hold older (green) NAS reader cards should take passport- sized photographs with them on their next visit to the NAS in order to receive an updated photocard.

The Alyth Oral History Project is progressing, but not quickly. Having had training and practiced with a pilot interview, we are hoping to arrange further interviews about wartime Alyth in the near future.

One of our life members, Dr David Munro Robertson, is finalising a book on the life and work of the minor, but very prolific, Perthshire artist Andrew Scott Rankin (1868-1942) The Archive provided a great deal of relevant information from the valuation rolls. David hopes to publish his book next year.

Another project which delves into the archives is Bridging Perthshire's

2 Past, a three-year project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Its main object is to preserve what is left of the of the network of roads and bridges built by General Wade and Major Caulfield in the 18th century, partly as a response to the Jacobite uprisings. Our Archive contains a large collection of relevant documents, which will be put onto a database to make them more accessible. It is hoped that senior schoolchildren will be inspired to look up documents about the roads and bridges and their role in this important pe- riod in British history. Lindsay Farquharson of the Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust, the archaeologist in charge of the project, has agreed to give a talk to the Friends next year about her work.

Finally, I hope you like the new, pocket-size Newsletter. It’s handier to use, and it costs less to print and post. However, we’ve kept the same large print that we know many readers like.

Margaret Borland –Stroyan, Chairman

Archive News

There’s not been any brand new initiatives since the last issue, but ‘Artist in the Archives’ Kyra Cleggs ’s artwork is coming on apace, and is guaranteed to show the Archive in a whole new light when it’s ready at the end of this year. We’re also expecting our Pres- ervation Report to land on our desks any day; this will help us decide which collections need extra care and how, although we’ve already begun replacing unsuit- able and worn-out enclosures with brand new archival quality ones. We’ve also bought some chemical sponges to help us clean the dirtier documents. Be warned, we’re looking for volunteers to help us clean and re-package...

Talking of volunteers, Vera Purves, who after too many years to remember, has finished her stint transferring the Perth burial registers onto the database.3 Like all our volunteers, Vera has shown outstanding dedication in making our collections more accessible, and our special thanks go to her. If you’re looking for another project, Vera, there’s a chemical sponge with your name on it…

I’m very excited about the burials project, for I can see the light at the end of the tunnel – just half of one volume to go and then we’ll be complete! I think we’ll have to have a party to celebrate. The online database of the Burial Regis- ters, along with those of the Perthshire Militia, are proving to be very popular features of the Archive’s web site – our statistics consistently show that the da- tabases are being extensively used, and we’re starting to get comments from users such as

....Moran taing, many thanks for the indices you've posted online. They are a great help to family historians and AK Bell is far ahead of many other local archives in terms of making such records available online. Much appreci- ated....

Finally, we’ve reorganized our time slightly so that each week we now have days dedicated to cataloguing the collections. Recently arranged and listed collections include MS288 The Historic Orchards of the Carse of Gowrie, 2009, which is the results of a survey of the historic orchards of the Carse of Gowrie commissioned by Perth & Kinross Countryside Trust. MS293 42 Townhead, Auchterarder, 1749-2004 is on the face of it, simply a bundle of property legal papers , but actually hint at an intriguing story of the families associated with the buildings. We’ve also completed listing two church collections: MS294 Balbeggie and Collace United Free Church, 1907-1990 which records the ups and down of the church and its community and MS219 St Andrews Episcopal Church, Strathtay, 1856-1970 (note that because of Data Protection rules, both of these will have some access restrictions). Jan Merchant

Friends of PKC Archive, AK Bell Library, York Place, PERTH PH2 8EP Scottish Charity No. SCO31537. Tel:(01738) 477013 Email: [email protected].

Hon. Presidents; The Provost : Sir William Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie : Mr Donald Abbott

4 Editor: David Wilson Perthshire and the ‘45

It never ceases to amaze me that a rabble of highlanders could march from Badenoch and points north all the way south to Derby in England—a foreign country, speaking a foreign language for many of them—then turn around and march all the way back to Culloden near Inverness and fight the last major battle on British soil. What was the motivation? Why did the peasants and crofters leave their homes and families from which most of them had never been further than the local market?

A study of the Jacobite papers pertaining to Perth and Perthshire in the Perth & Kinross Archive gives us some indication, because Highland Perthshire was fairly heavily involved in the rebellion. Most Jacobite lairds were Episcopalians, and although the people themselves were mainly Pres- byterian, the lairds had power over their tenants, as will become evident. Many of the Perthshire lairds and aristocracy rose to support the Prince and raised regiments from their often unwilling tenants.

Blair Castle in 1736; Sketch by a nephew of the Duchess of Atholl; from ’ J acobite General ’ 5

The Young Pretender’s visit to Perth was brief and to a large extent unevent- ful. He arrived at Blair Castle on 31st August 1745 with his ‘ragged army of highlanders’ and was welcomed by Duke William the elder, (disinherited) brother of James, Duke of Atholl, who was a government supporter and had fled to London. The people flocked to see him at Blair,as they did when the Pretender arrived in Perth on 3rd September after staying one night at Dunkeld. He brought a few Atholl men, but Duke William was left at Blair to gather more recruits. Prince Charles remained eight days in Perth gathering support from some of the local lairds such as Oliphant of Gask, the Duke of Perth and Lord Strathallan. The Prince stayed in Perth in the town house of Viscount Stormont - a Jacobite at heart like the rest of the family, but who wisely did not risk his life or property by actively supporting the cause (this house was on the site of the present Royal Bank of Scotland at the foot of the High Street).

The Prince had only one guinea in his pocket on his arrival in Perth, having

Prince Charles as a young man 6 Picture courtesy of SCRAN paid for the army on his way south out of his own finances, and consequently- his eight days in Perth were occupied in raising money from the area by force if necessary, and training and equipping the army. The magistrates had fled on the Prince's arrival but the Provost was held to a £500 ransom from the unwilling citizens and only released at Gask on the way south. Otherwise, during the stay in Perth both the Prince and his army behaved with the utmost courtesy.

It is recorded that the Prince attended a ball given by the gentlewomen of Perth in his honour, but to their disappointment he left after one dance in order to attend to his sentries, so conscientiously did he take his responsibilities.

After reviewing the army on the North Inch on the 7th of September and at- tending divine service at the Episcopal church the following Sunday (when Catholics and Protestants worshipped together, the Prince left for Dunblane via Gask house where he breakfasted. He never returned to Perth, and on the retreat from Derby he went north via Crieff, where he stayed at Lord Drum- mond's house for two nights, and thence to Castle Menzies and Blair Atholl.

After the battle of Prestonpans on the way south from Edinburgh there was an urgent demand for reinforcements and efforts were redoubled to recruit men. The clan bonds were so strong that most clansmen rose and followed the clan chief without question if he declared for the Prince. But it was a different mat- ter for the tenants of the landed gentry who were in many cases Protestant and disaffected. The Atholl Estates were the largest potential source of men, for in theory three thousand of them could be called upon. Duke William, who was regarded by many as the rightful heir, coerced and harried men to join the Atholl Brigade by appeals and by sending out recruiting parties with the fiery cross round his tenants. He threatened to take the cattle and burn the houses of those who resisted and there are instances of this occurring. There is evidence in the P+KC Archive that every tenant farmer had to find men for the cause, though tenants could buy themselves exemption or hire a substitute. In all only a thousand of them were recruited.

Lowland Perthshire was even more difficult. The Duke of Perth ordered one man to enlist for every plough. Tullibardine had great difficulty and Gask for- bade his tenants to cut their corn in September 1745 until men came forward. But 7the Prince, saying "this will never do" fed his horse on the corn, thereby

breaking Gask’s embargo. There are instances recorded where bands of highlanders roamed the countryside, burst- ing into houses looking for food and arms and arresting men for

military service. In truth anar-

chy reigned in parts of

Perthshire.

There were disturbances at the Tolbooth in Perth on the 30th of October, King George’s birthday. Shots were fired when the

townspeople tried to release

some deserters from the rebels

held there after the battle of Lord George Murray Jacobite General Prestonpans. Several rebels and townspeople were wounded in the exchanges of fire, and one George Leslie, a Perth weaver, was killed. Lady Nairn, a cousin of the Duke of Atholl, ordered her factor to round up ten tenants to go to Perth to assist the town guard commanded by Lawrence Oliphant of Gask, and thereafter to join Duncan of Drumachine's regiment. This was done under pain of turning out their families, burning their houses and taking their horses and cattle for the army. Ammunition was stored in the Town Council house under heavy rebel guard. Reference was also made to a large bonfire in the square at Dunkeld on the Prince's birthday, 31st De- cember 1745, when the rebels forced townspeople out of their houses to take part under dire threats of retribution.

In Coupar Angus, records show that Deputy Bailie Charles Hay was dragged out of David Clerk's alehouse and hauled to the Cross when 300 men of Lord Ogilvie's Regiment arrived in the town after harvest time. Hay was forced to read proclamations from the Pretender and others with two officers on ei-

8 Portrait by Sir Gavin Strang in the National Galleries of Scotland

I ther side of him with broadswords at his stomach. He was so hoarse with fear that they threatened to run him through if he didn't speak louder. He was also forced to find billets for the men, horses and baggage carts to carry them to Perth, and any weapons he could find.

Later, a few days before the battle of Falkirk when Lord Drummond's French Regiment came through Coupar Angus on the march from Montrose to Perth, a party of rebels searched Hay’s house looking for him, stabbing the beds and

Depositions against prisoners from Perth after being transferred to Edinburgh.

9 (Manuscript held in Box B59/30/72/11 P+KC Archive ) threatening to kill Mrs. Hay (who fled) and burn the house down. Eventually he was tracked down and forced to find carts and horses for the march to Perth.

Alas, this was not the end for poor Mr. Hay. After the rebellion he was ar- rested, taken to Perth and accused of acting as quartermaster for the rebels and of harassing the country people to come in with horses and carts. Eventually he was released. Also in Coupar Angus, one Thomas Donaldson, a cooper, was accused of ranting that King George and his family were atheists and that Catholicism was the only true religion. It was said that he even offered some boys, who were making a fire at the Cross, fourpence' worth of drink to get stones and break the Minister's windows!

After the battle of Culloden, government troops roamed at will in highland Perthshire, arresting anyone even remotely suspect. Court records in the Ar- chive detail the accusations against some 113 prisoners incarcerated in the Tol- booth in Perth (how they crammed them in I don't know) between February and November 1746. There are also precognitions of all the witnesses against them, and also precognitions against many of the Perthshire gentry who either had their own regiments or were officers in these regiments, and who were still at large - such men as Stewart of Grandtully, Stewart of Ardvoirlich, Robert- son of Strowan, Robert Mercer of Aldie, and Lord and Lady Nairn.

As ever, the men held in the Tolbooth pleaded all sorts of alibis. Some claimed that they had been forced to join under threats, and that they had deserted as soon as they could and never fired a shot in anger. If they were all to be be- lieved, only about a tenth were active rebels. But also serving in the Jacobite army were French soldiers, Scotsmen recruited in France, deserters from Eng- lish regiments, a scattering of Irishmen - and even a Chelsea Pensioner!

Thus records in our archives put flesh on the bones of the history of the ’45 in Perthshire, from its early enthusiasms to its tragic ending. They illustrate the great divide that ran through the county between the turbulent, largely Jaco- bite highlands, and the lowlands who stood mainly for the king and government.

GrahamWatson

10 Was the Stone of Destiny Quarried Here?

Since my early childhood the history and legends surrounding the Stone of Scone has intrigued me. According to legend, the Stone of Destiny, originally Jacob’s Pillow, was brought from the Middle East via Spain and Ireland to the west side of Scotland (possibly Dunstaffnage, Iona or Dunadd), from where King Kenneth Mc Alpine brought it to Scone, a Pictish royal capital, in the mid 9th century. Tradition also has it that in 1296 the Abbot of Scone suc- cessfully hid the Stone from Edward Plantagenet and fobbed him off with a lump of local stone. There are then two versions; either those in the know kept the authentic Stone hidden locally, or they retrieved it later and King Robert the Bruce entrusted it to a supporter whose family has kept it hidden for centuries in Argyll.

King Edward placed the Stone in Westminster Abbey, where it remained until the 1950s when students removed it. Although some people question whether the stone which was returned shortly thereafter was the same one: expert opinion seems convinced that it was. Seven centuries after its forcible re- moval from Scone, the UK government under Prime Minister John Major sent the stone with due ceremony to join the Scottish crown jewels in Edin- burgh Castle, which together form ‘The Honours of Scotland’

Whatever its history, the experts all agree that the old red sandstone (ORS) Stone now in Edinburgh originated in Tayside. The British Geological Soci- ety (BGS) conducted a petrological examination in 1996-97 and concluded that it was a block of Lower ORS from near Scone itself, and that it might

11 Picture courtesy of SCRAN have originated from the Scone Formation, at or near the old working at Quarrymill, less than a mile from Old Scone.

Quarrymill, otherwise described as Kincarrathie Quarry, was known to Robert the Bruce. In 1328 he asked the Abbot of Scone to allow stones to be taken from the quarries of Kincarrathie [sic] and Balcormac for the edifica- tion of the Church of Perth , and for repairs to the Bridge of Perth and the Bridge of Earn. In the fifteenth century, based on the authority of the royal request, stone from the Kincarrathie Quarry was used for the rebuilding of the nave of St. John’s Kirk. BGS evidence, which appeared in the Scottish Journal of Geology in 1988 comments: Perth’s infilled Burghmuir quarry and the now poorly exposed Quarrymill/Kincarrathie quarries are the only sandstone workings in the Scone (Perth) area of the appropriate an- tiquity to have supplied the Stone of Destiny. Given its proximity to the Ab- bey of Scone, the Kincarrathie quarry seems to me the most probable source.

According to experts at Historic Scotland, the stone forming part of the Honours of Scotland is the authentic coronation stone, possibly a Pictish royal stone adopted by the Scots following the amalgamation into Alba of the Kingdoms of the Picts and the Scots in about 843 AD.

Personally, I hesitate to accept that the Picts, whose rich and intricate stone carving is in profusion throughout this region, would have left so little im- pression. Surely a royal stone in sandstone would have been magnificently ornate? There is also the strong tradition that the coronation stone was black (probably basalt) and considerably bigger than the stone we know today. My own guess is that somewhere in Perthshire, possibly in the grounds once owned by the Abbey, the true coronation stone – either of basalt or of very beautifully decorated sandstone – lies buried. I very much hope it will someday be unearthed.

Legends and traditions are part of our culture, and it is always fun to formu- late one’s own theories on subjects such as the Stone of Scone. We may never learn the truth for sure – but I continue to dig my garden in the former Kincarrathie estate with enthusiastic optimism!

Margaret Borland-Stroyan 12 May I Introduce.....?

Social scientists have an interest in how we define ourselves - and how we are defined by other people. When you are introduced to someone, what do you think it is necessary to say about yourself? Do you introduce yourself by a rela- tionship - mother, wife, husband; or do you say what your work is - profession, trade, chief occupation? The information in the death notices of newspapers is also an indication of what is needed to identify an individual - age, place of death, family relationships etc. Working on the earliest burial register (starting 1794 up to 1812), I became aware that there were differences in the details considered necessary then, es- pecially where woman were concerned. The basic entry gives date of death and date of burial, a forename and surname, occupation, age, male or female, and cause of death. At this date, there is no information about address or place of birth. James Brown, harnessmaker, died 9.11.1810, buried 11.11.1810, aged 36yrs., (cause of death) decline; Gri- zal, spouse of Daniel Anderson, died 6.2.1809, buried 7.2.1809, aged 45yrs., cancer. William, son to Thomas Pickard, died 29.4.1812, buried 1.6.1812, 8yrs., fever A man is defined by forename(s), and sometimes by occupation, but never by reference to any other family member. Patrick Robertson, meatseller, d.20.12.1811, aged 71yrs. A woman is defined by forename(s), married surname (only occasionally is a maiden surname given) and whether or not she is a widow, spouse or daughter. Sophia, daughter to Charles Erlington d.11.11.1810; Flora, widow of John Mackvean d.12.2.1812. There are also a few cases where the woman is defined only as a widow without her own forename being given. Daniel Stewart’s widow, d. 27.1.1803 James Young, watchmaker, his widow, d.18.9.1808. In one instance, the name of the employee seems unknown. Servant of Mr.Thomson, Murtown, male, aged 72yrs., d. 21.11.1810. In the hundreds of entries I have transferred to the data base, there are so far only two women who have been given an occupation. Isobel Douglass, milli- ner, aged 66yrs., d. 6.12.1801; Isobel Gardiner, drugest [druggist], d.5.12.1803. There is also an entry where the age of the deceased female, the cause of death, and name of her husband are unknown, but her defining characteristic is given. Margaret Drummond, soldier’s wife, d. 19.11.1796 I cannot imagine that the majority of women did not do a full day’s work. Once the household tasks had been done, I am sure that women helped their hus- bands with their work - we are talking of an age before the work place became completely separated from the domestic setting. A weaver’s wife would always be expected to help in the process - but her contribution to the household econ- omy13 is taken for granted. There is quite a variation in the way that unmarried women are recorded. The title ‘Miss’ seems to be reserved for those who (on the available evidence) would have independent means. Miss Margaret Wilson, aged 65yrs., d. 11.8.1810, daughter of Mr.Wilson. Sometimes the designation “not married” is given; Helen Gordon , not married, d.15.2.1812. Sometimes there is nothing; Isobel Stewart, d.15.2.1812. ‘Mrs’ is seldom used. A rare entry is - Mrs.Jean Ross, aged 36yrs, d. 14.4.1796. Some unmarried women are defined as “daughter of” even at an advanced age! Jean, daughter to David Peddie, barber, d. 19.4.1802 ,aged 80yrs. It is tempting to think this one is an error on the part of the keeper of the Register - but who knows? It is common to find entries for men and women who are over the age of 14yrs (working age) and who died of consumption to be listed as “son of” or “daughter of” as if it were obvious that they would never be able to fend for themselves. Alex Nielson, aged 16yrs., d.20.2.1824, consumption, son of James Neilson, sailor. Jean Robertson, aged 17yrs., d.5.5.1824, consumption, daughter of Doctor Robertson William Gordon, aged 19yrs., d.24.1.1812, consumption, son to James Gordon, late watchmaker For men, the designation of ‘Mr’ is not automatic, but apparently reserved for those of distinction. Mr James Marshall, manufacturer, aged 22yrs, d.15.4.1796; Rev. Mr David Sangster, aged 58yrs, d 23.9.1806 The designation of “esquire” is used but rarely! Alexander Feichney Esq., of Ardargie, late Provost, d.22.1.1812 There is a distinction made between those who are recognised as part of the Perth community and those who are not. Perhaps the designation of “indweller” means that she was in receipt of some kind of pension from the town. Janet Fraser, aged 50yrs., indweller, d. 14.12.1797; Margaret Sime, a stranger, aged 63yrs., d. 11.3.1812 While it would be unwise to draw conclusions without a detailed analysis, it seems that the overall picture shows that women were defined by their place in the household without being credited with any skills. The range of occupations given for men by no means covers all the work done. The Incorporated Trades are well represented - e.g. wrights, fleshers, bakers, as are other means of earning a living - weavers, carters, labourers; but I have yet to find an entry for a “bleacher” although that activity was common. Some essential workers e.g. plumbers and join- ers may be subsumed within the wright’s craft. It was also a highly stratified soci- ety where social differences were still evident in the final record of one’s existence - the Burial Register.

14 Marjory M. Howat A COMING DARK AGE FOR ARCHIVES?

Born pessimists like myself are always prompt to see the end of the world as we know it (though nowadays who doesn’t?). So when I read a news item that said that the BBC’s 1986 ‘New Domesday Book’ videodisk was now beyond recovery, while the 800-year-old original on vellum was still in fine fettle, I had to find out more. What follows is a fairly broad-brush overview; it doesn’t deal with our own archive, and with commendable delicacy I have avoided involving the archivists in preparing this piece.

Imagine that by some dreadful mischance, computers had taken the place of paper in Elizabethan times; Shakespeare would have used a word processor and saved on floppy discs – and within a few decades, without written copies, every one of his plays would have vanished from the world. Hamlet would have been and gone, Macbeth out like a brief candle, Love’s Labours irretrievably Lost.

And yet an incomplete copy the world’s earliest recorded book, The Epic of Gilgamesh, can still be found today on the shelves of the AK Bell Library, 4,500 years after being first ‘printed’ in ancient Sumer. It has survived because it was originally inscribed in then widely used cuneiform characters on simple, but very durable, clay tablets. Even the rather less chunky sheet-and-ink systems which superseded clay tablets have also proved re- markably resilient. In dry desert conditions, Egyptian papyrus has survived for 2,100 years, parchment bibles from Sinai for 1,600 years , and Chinese paper money from the Desert oases on the silk road for at least 800 years.

The paradoxical outcome of the huge improvements in information technology in recent times is that while the ability to transmit and store information has improved out of all recognition, neither its designers nor their immediate clients had any interest in its long-term durability. After all, the next generation of equipment, faster, cleverer and with more storage ca- pacity was always waiting in the wings, so there was no interest for systems

15 designed to last unchanged for decades. The needs of archivists and national record offices for permanence were way down the list of priorities.

The result was three-fold. Firstly, continually changing systems meant that earlier versions could no longer communicate with later ones using different software. Secondly, changing technology means that storage devices like tapes and discs used in earlier systems would become unreadable, as the machines that could read them gradually became unusable and new ones, or spare parts for them ceased to be made. And thirdly – and quite contrary to what most people expected – it now seems that most digital storage devices degenerate, and will probably have a reliable lifespan of a few decades at most. Effectively, we now face the prospect of losing important parts of our collective memory.

In the mid-1990s, governments and record-keepers all over the world sud- denly awoke to the problem. A bandwagon started to roll and everybody tried to scramble aboard. International and national conferences were held, and all manner of adhoc bodies set up to devise possible solutions. Industry quickly sensed business opportunities, and began to come up with ideas for fixing the problem. A whole new discipline, Digital Obsoles- cence, had been born.

It soon became clear that, while it was relatively easy to define the prob- lems, designing long-term solutions was more difficult. So far, six main proposals have dominated agendas in Europe, Australia, the Netherlands and the USA (technophobes, please look away now!) In order of popu- larity, they are:

migration – making it possible for records in outdated format to be easily transferred to a new storage system, a process which would have to be repeated every time there was a change in storage technology. It is far and away the most favoured proposal at present. However, the problem with migration is that information can be stored in many different formats, and so the old stuff needs to be given a software ‘label’ containing enough details to allow any storage system of the future to take it into its memory without fuss. 16 It sounds a simple enough job in principle, but getting agreement on what to include in these labels is not easy. The great difficulty is that it is impossible to anticipate what technological revolutions lie ahead (twenty five years ago, nobody foresaw the internet!) or how fre- quent changes would be. That makes estimates of future costs mere guesswork, and authorities naturally hate that kind of uncertainty, particularly when the payback, if any, would be far in the future. emulation – attaching a clever software programme to files which fools them into thinking that they are still at home in their old computer, but are in fact running in the new machine. Its great virtue is that it would enable the ‘look and feel’ of the original to be preserved. Young game-playing computer fans came up with the concept to enable them to transfer computer games from dead systems like the Sinclair QL to newer machines. Emulator design requires much imagination, skill and patience, which they lavished on projects for free. As paid-for software, however, it would tend to be ferociously expensive at first, though possibly getting cheaper as more expertise was gained. Incidentally, it was an ‘emulator’ that eventually al- lowed the BBC Domesday book to be opened, after a fashion. making acid-free paper copies of any important data to be saved from outdated equipment. The great advantages would be that paper storage is well understood, immensely durable, and the contents can be identified by eye. However, all the advantages of electronic data-handling, current, or still to be developed, would be sacrificed. microfilm storage of data stored in ‘bar codes’. Good for five centuries, according to the designers (but how can they prove it?) As a proprietary system it could be costly, and could raise fairly threatening intellectual property concerns, such as whether firms could claim copyright for the new copies they create. And would the method have any advantages over paper copies?

the museum solution – keeping copies of outdated equipment in constant working order, so that any endangered files in old media can be run on them. It would be a short-term fix, because machine 17 components would eventually be unobtainable, and because the discs or tapes themselves holding the files would also degenerate with the passage of time. However, a short-term fix of this sort might be valuable in some circumstances.

Internet-based solutions – not so much proposals as an amorphous feeling that the potential of the internet is so vast that there must be a solution out there somewhere, if only we could pin it down...

Other basic policy need to be resolved, none of them easy. For instance, what proportion of the information we generate really needs to be kept in the longer term – and how do you know at this point in time? How do you deal with the different requirement of pre-digital and digital-born records? What should be the minimum/maximum lengths of time to aim at? What is the appropriate quality of record to make – a virtual reproduction of the original, or just the bald data? How easily accessible to users should records be, bearing in mind that the vast majority of files will be very rarely visited? And how can we find paths around the minefields of intellectual property rights, in which all kinds of copymaking is vulnerable?

Recent political events have exposed another issue; how can you be sure that sensitive texts have not been subtly doctored – for instance, to conceal embarrassing evidence of lies or criminality – when the original text, say , of cabinet minutes, would exist only as a copy of a copy in an updated storage system, and there is no way of checking what the original looked like?

These are just some of the policy questions which have been raised in international conferences and other contexts over the last decade; and one can easily see why progress in most countries has been glacially slow. In- deed, it can even go into reverse. In July 2008, the UK government, under understandable financial pressure, abruptly abandoned an agreed inte- grated policy covering all government records, and instead called upon the commercial IT industry to come up with cheaper piecemeal solutions.

Finally, discussion on obsolescence has quite reasonably concentrated on official records. But electronic obsolescence will massively affect another

18 important resource – the individual, family, charity, club and commercial records gathered in archives like ours. In the past these were all on paper, but more and more will exist only in digital form on discs and hard drives. Let- ters used to be a primary source of personal information, but have given way to emails which usually leave no trace. Will this mean an unavoidable loss of personal detail and richness of texture in archives of the future? David Wilson

Our archivists have put much thought into how to cope locally, so I asked Steve for his comments. His response is the following article.

A Digital Preservation Strategy for

Perth & Kinross Council

I have been asked to respond to David Wilson’s excellent article concerning the preservation of archives for the future in this digital age. As it happens, I have been given the task of addressing this problem as part of the Council’s information management strategy. I am tempted to submit a copy of David’s article along with my final report because I think it addresses the issues very well and also points to some of the possible ways forward.

In an age where records are increasingly “born digital” it is going to be important to identify what is of permanent archival value at an early stage, perhaps even at the point of creation. This does present something of a chal- lenge. Ideally I should like there to be a post of digital archivist on my staff to make the necessary connections and liaise with services about the need to think about long-term preservation. In times of increasing restrictions on public spending this seems an unlikely outcome, so we are going to have to cope as best we can. Dealing, as we are, with preserving and providing access to the last 800 years worth of traditional records, it is difficult to devote the necessary time and energy to this aspect of record-keeping, but at the same time it is clear that unless we do bite the bullet we will be judged to have failed19 future generations.

I am attracted towards an approach piloted in the East of England. The Uni- versity of Essex has hosted the UK Data Archive for many years and has the expertise necessary to act as a trusted digital repository. Along with local authorities and other agencies in the area they have looked at the collaborative approach. The University of Essex has undertaken to accept digital deposits as long as they come with all the necessary metadata (defined by a colleague as “stuff about stuff”) and regularly refreshing and re-mastering the data to en- sure that it is still readable.

I see no reason why Scotland could not adopt a similar approach, as there is a sufficiently large community that could fund a similar collaboration rather than the various public bodies individually trying to invent ways of preserving and future-proofing our digital records. It may require one of our academic in- stitutions to step forward and propose the creation of a Scottish Data Archive, or perhaps the National Archives of Scotland could take the lead.

Watch this space! Steve Connelly, Archivist

Dates for your diary

Thursday 22 October, 2pm: Scottish Monastic Landscapes: Dr Derek Hall, Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust

Thursday 19 November, 2pm: Perthshire in Pictures Dr Norman Reid, St Andrews University Special Collections

Thursday 25 March, 2pm: Bridging Perthshire ’ s Past Lindsay Farquharson, P+KC Heritage Trust

Venue; Meeting Room AK Bell Library