Old Orkney Photograph Phun

Dusty and I began our morning when our Very Orcadian Colleague invited us to inspect these fantastic photos. He often brings through examples of interest, mirth or mystery and these delighted us.


The first is a positive image printed on glass of a group of four.

Photographs of this vintage rarely include people smiling as the exposure times were too long for sitters to hold a smile for. Dusty and I thought the woman looked particularly grim and wondered if she was having a bad day. VOC informed us that they were 'probably all in clamps' to keep them still (photographers used posing rods and neck rests to help sitters to remain static) and wondered why we were not more intrigued by the fellow on the right who was feeling his fellow sitter's ear and holding what appeared to be a small pipe.

What's his deal?

The instruction not to smile clearly caused this wee lass some mirth and we were amazed by how modern this picture seemed. It could have been taken yesterday. VOC thought it was early twentieth century and guessed from THE WALL BEHIND HER that it was taken on the isle of Westray.

The Orkney Photographic Archive comprises of close to 70,000 images of people, places, transport, archaeological digs, sporting events, terrifying creatures, mystery (poo-like) objects and many, many more subjects and/or events. Most of these are available to peruse in the Archive Search Room on the first floor of Orkney Library.

We can photocopy and scan images we own the copyright of and VOC can makephotographic prints for you in his Tardis-like darkroom.

Update: VOC investigated the origin of this photograph and it was indeed taken on Westray.





One Last Christmas Treat...

 

Only one night left of Christmas decorations dear readers! And then what? What shall light up our long, dark, Orcadian nights?

 We're holding out hope for Let it Shine to be amazing on Saturday nights, but what if it's not? WHAT THEN???

We'll await your suggestions whilst curled up in the foetal position and looking at these photographs of folk having a hoot at the pictures. They always cheer us up...




Stronsay Hall, Christmas time, early 1950s- negative no. L2130/1



Saturday film matinee in the Temperance Hall- negative no. L1608/3

Orkney Archive Advent Calendar - Christmas On - Duty

Christmas Day 1943 at RAF Skeabrae. The band played throughout the meal.

Images taken from the Gregor Lamb collection.

Orkney Archive Advent Calendar - Ba' Humbug Again To You!

As a follow up to yesterday's mention of the Holm ba' - here are two snowy images from what was clearly a very cold winter in 1923.

Stromness Ba', Christmas Day, 1923

Kirkwall Ba' on the same day.



Egg-streme Egg Collecting!

We were looking for some Eastery photos for the weekend but the photographic archive was not playing ball.




We did, however, find these fabulous egg-themed images of sea-bird egg collections which were carried out on the islands of Rousay and Copinsay.

Bird cliffs on Copinsay, 1932 - Tom Kent Collection

Men who 'ran the lee' on Copinsay for eggs.

Egg collecting, Rousay.

Egg hunting in the Orkney Islands

Copinsay - Tom Kent Collection

A letter containing an explanation of how dangerous the practise was (as if we couldn't guess from the terrifying photos) can be found in the Halcro-Johnson Collection:

'In Orkney we call each other boys until we become old men.

 Once in Orkney, two old men went to the cliffs at the sea shore to collect sea birds' eggs. One of them remained at the top of the cliff and held a rope attached to a basket, while the other man climbed along the ledges on the cliff and put the eggs into the basket.

When the latter came to a corner of the cliff, he found that he could not proceed farther, as he had the wrong foot foremost and he had not sufficient room to change the position of his foot. He made several attempts but failed. He then stopped, took out his snuff-box and took a big pinch of snuff, after which he gave a jump in the air changing his feet at the same time, and by this means he got round the corner and reached the top of the cliff in safety.

His companion who had been watching him all the time and who had observed the great danger he was in of falling over the edge into the sea when changing his feet, said to him,

"Boy, why did thee tak a snuff before changing thee feet?"

To which the other replied,

"Boy, I thought I was needin' it" '

Images from the Orkney Photographic Archive

Letter: Orkney Archive reference D15/25/8/6

Tennis Bawl.

What a sombre looking bunch. The Kirkwall Tennis Club are very sad that Andy Murray is out of Wimbledon. The two women in the middle of the front row look like they're actually trying not to cry.

Those two on the right, on the other hand, need to show some respect. Probably Djokovic fans.

And so we sob again with the help of Barry Manilow. Oh Andy... here's to next year...

View from inside Maeshowe, 1900.



Photo and letter taken from the Magnus Spence collection.

Orkney Archive Reference: D32/2/2

 Magnus Spence was born around 1853 in Birsay, the son of Magnus Spence, a schoolmaster and his wife Ann. He also became a schoolmaster and spent his teaching career in Stenness and latterly Deerness schools. In addition to his being a much acclaimed educationalist, he was a gifted amateur geologist, botanist, meteorologist, zoologist and antiquarian. He published many papers reflecting these wide interests but remains best known in Orkney for his 'Flora Orcadensis', published by David Spence, Kirkwall, 1914. He died in 1919.

The letter is from A.L. Lewis, Highbury Hill, London.

For more information on the 'Barnstone' which is supposed to be the subject of the snap, see here.

On This Day In Orkney, In 1947...

Stanley Cursitor received a letter:

Stanley Cursiter was born in Kirkwall in 1887 and died in Stromness in 1976. He was educated at Kirkwall Grammar School and Edinburgh College of Art.

He served in the First World War with the Scottish Rifles and the Fourth Field Survey Battalion where he helped to revolutionise the preparation and printing of field maps. He was awarded a military O.B.E.(see above) and was twice mentioned in dispatches.

He quickly became known as a painter of landscapes, particularly of his native Orkney. Stanley Cursiter was Keeper of the National Galleries of Scotland and later Director from 1930 - 1948. In the latter year he was appointed Her Majesty's Painter and Limner in Scotland.

On his retiral from the Galleries, he made his home in Orkney, but soon found himself engaged in a new career of portrait painting and during the next fifteen years he painted many notable people.

Among important professional tasks which he performed was the painting of the picture showing H.M. Queen receiving the Honours of Scotland in St. Giles Cathedral. This picture now hangs in Holyrood House.

He served on a number of national bodies concerned with the fine arts. He was the first secretary of the Royal Fine Arts Commission in Scotland and for some time Secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy. He was President of the Society of Scottish Artists and President of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. He was also a member of the Council of the Royal Society in Edinburgh.


As a painter, he is represented in several permanent and many private collections. He published in 1946, under the title "Peploe", a biographical study of his friend and contemporary S.J. Peploe, and in 1948, a book on Scottish Art.

His writings, ranging from observations on the arts to stories of Orkney life appeared in various newspapers and magazines.

For his many services to Kirkwall he was given the Freedom of the City and Royal Burgh; he was a deputy Lieutenant of Orkney. He designed the gold chain of office worn by the Provosts in the latter years of Kirkwall Town Council. (The chain is presently on show in Orkney Islands Council Offices).


St. Magnus Cathedral was always a source of inspiration to him and was the subject of many of his paintings. He gave advice which resulted in the saving of the building from structural collapse and made many appeals on its behalf. He suggested the setting up of St. Rognvald's Chapel and designed the furnishings.

Description prepared by Alan Borthwick, Scottish Archive Network project



OBE letter Orkney Archive Reference D26/6/1 and photographs from the Orkney Photographic Archive.

Robert Louis Stevenson Day!

Today is the 163rd anniversary of Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, A Child's Garden or Verse and, our favourite short story title ever; Thrawn Janet.

RLS is mainly associated with his childhood home, Edinburgh, but he did visit Orkney and Shetland as a nineteen year old with his father, Thomas Stevenson, a lighthouse engineer. Thomas' father, Robert, and his brothers, Alan and David, all built lighthouses and this was supposed to be his son's career until Robert Louis announced that he was going to be a writer.


RLS wrote letters to his mother during the 1869 inspection trips of the family's lights. He was not too taken with Stromness declaring it to be 'a cluster of gray houses in the upper end of a bight - not very inviting.' (bight, or bicht, is a loop)

Hoy High lighthouse, one of the lights being inspected on the 1869 trip.

He was more taken with Kirkwall, however, describing his first view as 'striking'and describing the 'glory' of the cathedral in some detail. 'I know nothing so suggestive of legend, so full of superstition, so stimulating to a wierd imagination, as the nooks and corners and by-ways of such a church as St Magnus, in Kirkwall.



St Magnus Cathedral, Pre-Restoration by Tom Kent



Cathedral Interior by Tom Kent

Another writer who kept a journal during a Stevenson lighthouse inspection was Sir Walter Scott whose visit to Orkney and Shetland inspired his novel The Pirate.



For more on the 'Lighhouse Stevensons' read Bella Bathhurst's book of the same name.

And for more on RLS himself see here.

More Moberg!

Did the Gunnie Moberg open day leave you thirsty for more? Then you are in luck. A new micro exhibition of three of Gunnie Moberg's prints plus complementary material from the archive is now on display in the library.

See here for more.

3 STONE CIRCLES. Orkney Library and Archive, Kirkwall 1-31 October 2013

Let's Get Trollied On Lollies...

After so many months of hideous weather, it feels somewhat wrong to complain about the heat this week. Wrong. And yet also so right.... UUUURRRGGGHHH, it's stuffy!

There was a stash of ice-lollies in the freezer but some wily library staff got there first and ATE THEM ALL.

No matter, we'll just look at these cool, snowy pictures of Canada taken by Orcadians working for the Hudson's Bay Company to cool down instead:

J. W. Sinclair, lunch hour at Kingnait, Baffinland.

J.W. Sinclair, Baffin island or Herschel island.

Royal Canadian mounted policedogs, Aklavik, Invuit Region, North Western Territories. Taken by Canadian working in Canada.

Also, it has been a while since we all had a friday afternoon boogy. Pop down your pens and enjoy the archives unofficial theme tune for the Summer. We like to sing

 'We're in this job to get dusty, we're in this job to get dusty,

We're in this job to get dusty, we're in this job to get dusty'

Until the customers scream at us to shut up.

One Feels Like Chicken Tonight...

Poor old royals, they must be feeling really ignored poor dears. William wed Kate in a modest little ceremony, barely attended; the Queen's diamond jubilee slipped by with nary a party popper and would it have killed us to let them join in a little with all that Olympics hoop-la?

I do hope that there is something done to mark our Queen's coronation which was 60 years ago today. We shall be eating coronation chicken sandwiches whilst enacting pivotal fight scenes from coronation street but we are very loyal subjects so don't put pressure on yourselves.

These photos of the event, taken by Margaret Tait, were found in the box of her papers currently being catalogued:

As you can see, Tait has noted that the coronation happened on the same day that Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest. This is not strictly true; the summit was reached on the 29th of May 1953 but the news only reached London on the morning of the coronation.

Gunnie is Go...

Gunnie Moberg by Alistair Peebles

You may remember this breathless post from early March in which we crowed with delight at our purchase of the Gunnie Moberg Archive.

Gunnie Moberg was a Swedish-born photographer, artist and friend to many in Orkney where she and her husband, Tam McPhail, made their home. It is wonderful that her collection of negatives, prints, slides and cameras get to stay here in Orkney and become part of the Orkney Archive.

Photographer Rebecca Marr has been given the enviable job of cataloguing, conserving and curating the collection and she can tell you about it in her own words here in the lovely blog she has made to document the process.

http://gunniemobergarchive.wordpress.com/

There is a light that never goes out

Tonight the Science Festival includes a talk titled Around Scotland's Lighthouses by Virginia Mayes-Wright, Director of the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses. Orkney has many fine lighthouses which we're sure will feature.

This very lovely photograph of Hoy High Lighthouse was taken by Wilfred Marr. Don't be fooled by the name, it's not on Hoy but on the island of Graemsay. Together with its neighbour Hoy Low Lighthouse, also on Graemsay, they act as "leading" lights; when a ship entering Hoy Sound lines up the two lights they are on the correct bearing to stay in deep water. The two lights were designed by Alan Stevenson and were lit up for the first time in April 1851.

Hoy High lighthouse is the grander looking structure of the two lights on Graemsay. Its tall white tower, rising to 108 feet (32.9 metres) is still a much-loved landmark for travellers to and from Orkney. Hoy Low was automated in 1966 and Hoy High in 1978.

We Are Never Happy...

The snow does seem to be thawing in Kirkwall, but this has only served to reveal the treacherous layer of trampled ice that was lurking beneath the crunchy, powdery snow which was easier to walk on.

Perhaps you are all feeling a little nostalgic for the irritating, yet safer fluffy snow of earlier in the week? Perhaps not..

High Street, 1918

High Street, 1918

High Street, 1918

The West End Hotel on Main Street, undated.

Old Scapa Road, 1918

Palace Road, undated

These photos were all taken by Tom Kent and therefore the undated ones must predate 1936.

Will and Kate Sitting In A Tree K.I.S.S.I.N.G.

Kate Middleton is to be Prince William's bride, hurrah. I for one shall be perfectly content to watch the nuptials from the comfort of the sofa, wearing the inevitable commemorative sweater and leg-warmer combo and munching from an array of cold meats  and sausages on sticks laid out upon the coffee table. Lambrini shall be quaffed and twiglets shall be crunched.

I feel no shame about this intended grossly sentimental display of carnivorous fashion blindness as I shall be paying for all of this celebratory tomfoolery out of my own pocket. As, I am certain, Kate and William shall be.

The idea that the taxpayer would be expected to shell out for a Westminister Abbey wedding complete with designer frocks and limousines as has been suggested elsewhere is obviously a ludicrous ruse to hide the happy couple's real intention.

They are of course planning a good old-fashioned Orkney knees up which traditionally eschews fancy venues and puts the emphasis on fun, family and copious amounts of booze.

The night before the wedding, Kate's mother shall pop her daughter's feet into a bath full of water, dropping a ring in under her toes to be retrieved by the bridesmaids who shall be washing the feet of the bride. Whichever girl finds the ring shall be the next to marry.

The wedding shall of course take place during the waxing of the moon as ceremonies held during the waning phase are bad luck. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays are lucky days for weddings.

On the morning of the nuptials, Kate's mum shall serve everyone a stiff glass of gin at ten o'clock in the morning and the wedding party shall be led down to the church by a piper who has attached ribbons to his instrument.

'Hansel', that is pieces of cheese and bread shall be served immediately after the party arrive back at the bride's house and a bridecake of oats and caraway seeds shall be broken over poor Kate's head. This cake contains yet another ring and a button. The girl who finds the ring shall soon be wed herself and the boy who finds the button shall be a bachelor forever.

And then the dancing.

The Bride's Cog

As the evening progresses a 'cog' full of a heady mixture of home brew, whisky, sugar and spices shall be passed around the wedding party, all of whom shall take a drink.

Kate shall then retire to her boudoir to change for bed, whereupon male members of the wedding party, having secreted themselves within and without the chamber, shall burst out and try to steal bits of her wedding finery. Kate shall have taken some beefy, older women up with her to combat this assault, however, and a fight to the death shall ensue.

The cog shall return, full of plain ale this time, two hours after everyone has gone to bed as Kate's mother visits all the party guests in their bed rooms and offers them another drink just in case they are not quite steaming enough to have passed out completely. This revelry shall continue for the next two days or until the drink runs out.

I can't wait to watch it all unfold.

Photographs from the Tom Kent collection and information from Walter Traill Dennison's Orkney Weddings and Wedding Customs.

George Mackay Brown

Yesterday was the anniversary of George Mackay Brown's birth. He would have been 89. Orkney Archive do not hold GMB's papers*, unfortunately, as they still reside with his executors, but we do have a few relevant archives.

We hold some of his correspondence, mainly with Ernest Walker Marwick, some B.B.C. scripts which were written for programs on Orkney and several recordings of the poet either reading his own works or talking about the work of others such as Edwin Muir.

A personal favourite, is the set of Saga magazines which George Mackay Brown edited during his stay at Eastbank tuberculosis hospital. Originally an unsophisticated, hand-typed effort with cardboard covers, the third  edition was printed by the local newspapers and made available outside of the hospital. The magazines contain poems, songs, articles, journal extracts, short stories and a murder mystery by fellow patients as well as Brown himself. The magazines ran from the summer of 1953 and the summer of 1954 and there are 5 in total.

We have also found a photograph of the young poet amongst our school class photos from Stromness. Can you spot him in the third row?

Saga magazines reference: D1/296

 

 

*In 2012 we received, on permanent loan, 21 boxes of GMB's papers. For a contents list click on this link.

The Aftermath...

Orkney Library and Archive was a shameful sight yesterday morning. The corridors were strewn with burst balloon skins, torn streamers and empty wine bottles, two members of staff were discovered passed out amongst the Mills and Boons and a sad pair of underpants swung slowly from a light fitting.

At least that would be the case if we were not nerdy librarian/archivists who did most of their tidying up on Saturday night. It was Alison's leaving do and the staff gathered to eat, drink and make merry. Homebakes were produced, speeches were made and gifts were presented.

It was a very pleasant, if emotional, evening. Anyone who claims they didn't feel a little moist around the eyes during Alison's speech was either crying a river inside, has a heart of cold, cold steel or is a liar.

Plenty of pictures were taken on the night but it is yet to be established whether they can ever be shown in public. Instead, this post is illustrated with two photos of a staff leaving do which took place just after the Second World War. These pictures were taken when the catering facilities at Lyness were closing so it was a leaving do for all of the staff.

It looks pretty similar to Saturday night's do except we didn't have any hats and they don't seem to have limbo dancing dogs as waiters.

Photographed by: J.W. Sinclair.