Wednesday 14 July 2010

Dispatches From The Summer Assistant #3: Exhibitions Galore

If you have ever felt curious about what the archives hold but not had anything in particular that you wanted to research, you may be interested in our regular exhibitions. At the moment we have two exhibitions.

In the main foyer of the Orkney Library and Archive, you will find The ‘main street’ in Kirkwall: a photographic exhibition and research study. This studies the role that the ‘main street’ (i.e. Bridge Street, Albert Street, Broad Street and Victoria Street) play in the everyday lives of Orcadians and is being conducted by Robert Gordon and Aberdeen Universities. This exhibition includes many photos, old and new.

Last week I created my first exhibition, which can be seen in the display cabinet in the main foyer and upstairs in the archives. Archivists are not known for their sporting prowess and I do nothing to change this stereotype! However with summer in mind, I chose ‘Sport in Orkney’ as the theme for my exhibition to show the variety of sporting achievements by Orcadians at home and away.


The exhibition includes manuscripts, programmes, newspapers and photographs from our archives. In the Orkney room you will also find books relating to sport in Orkney and Scotland.

I really enjoyed putting the exhibition together because it showed the variety of our collections. The sports on exhibition include hang gliding, golf, cricket, wrestling, angling and the regatta. An exhibition about sport would not be complete without mention of football. In this exhibition you can find a Dounby Football Song and description of a wedding custom involving football.

If you look hard enough you may find a photo of a relative or their name in such items as cricket bowling averages.

2 comments:

  1. I saw the old photographs of the Street in the Foyer on Monday -- really superb. Didn't think to look upstairs, but will put that right the next time I'm there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Please do Carola, there is lots to see!

    ReplyDelete

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