We're All Goin' On An Archives Holiday!

It is getting to that time of year when we get slightly busier and the customers start to get a lot less local.

It is lovely to get visitors but it sometimes seems a shame that people have to travel so far to do their research. (Many travel from Australia and Canada each year.)

So we are leaving. We shall hire a big bus, Cliff Richard style and take a road trip South. We shall affix an enormous speaker to the roof which shall blast our theme tune  as we go and we'll just take the archives on the road okay? I'll just let the others in on my brilliant new outreach plans....

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I just ran this idea past Dusty who fell into a deep swoon after shrieking " the archives away from their strongrooms... NEVER!" and had to be revived with old treasure hunt chocolates and meths from the cleaning cupboard.

The Fonds just assumed I was joking and clipped me on the ear with a commonty of Rendall.

VOC has locked himself into the darkroom with the Tom Kent negatives.

So the plan's off.

"Thanks for nothing guys!" I hear you shout; "what if we can't visit? What then huh? HUH?"

Then simply get in touch dear readers: we conduct much of our research by phone, letter and email.
Contact details are here.
Or keep reading our blog posts.

Where am IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII?

If archives could sing a song, we can only presume that it would be this...

In The Hot Seat

In honour of the 139th anniversary of the birth of French author, Marcel Proust, we have subjected Orkney Archive to the famous 'Proust Questionnaire' as used by Vanity Fair magazine and James Lipton in Inside the Actors' Studio to quiz celebs.


What is your idea of perfect happiness?


Being left alone in a room that is not too dry, not too damp, not too hot and not too cold.

What is your greatest fear?

Rodents

What historical figure do you most identify with?

Greta Garbo

Which living person do you most admire?

Our archivist, Alison Fraser*

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

A tendency to crumble to dust.

What trait do you most deplore in others?

An insistence on using pens.

What is your greatest extravagance?

I play far too much online poker.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

It’s all very beige…

What is your favourite journey?

Back to my strongrooms

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Relevance.

Which living person do you most despise?

Michael Landy

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Copyright – Not to be reproduced or published without permission.

What is your greatest regret?

The sun has not been kind to the old complexion.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

Acid free paper

When and where were you happiest?

When I was accessioned.

Which talent would you most like to have?

If only I could sing…

What is your current state of mind?

Playful

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

If only I had discovered document repair tape earlier.

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what would it be?

Neil Sedaka

If you could choose what or who to come back as, what would it be?

Craig David

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Simply surviving, my love.

What is your most treasured possession?

My physical integrity

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Grimy hands and a leaky fountain pen.

What is your most marked characteristic?

My organisation.

What is the quality you most like in a man?

Crisp, white gloves.

What is the quality you most admire in a woman?

The habit of using a pencil.

What do you most value in your friends?

An absence of mould-spreading spores.

Who are your favourite writers?

Any who keep their correspondence and manuscripts.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

Miss Havisham (but preferably with a controlled environment and a proper cataloguing system.)

Who are your heroes in real life?

People who hand old photos into archives instead of shredding them (Oh the humanity….)

What are your favourite names?

Derek, Millicent and Hester.

What is it that you most dislike?

Being filed out of order.

How would you like to die?

Whilst drunk on a yacht.

What is your motto?

Hoarding is good.

Thank you

Thank you

****************************************

Update: Alison is now retired. Please replace this name with Vikki Kerr. (Dusty, 2022)

There is a light and it never goes out...

In 2006, Orkney appeared on the BBC series Restoration. The North Ronaldsay 'Old Beacon' lighthouse was featured alongside several other old, derelict buildings which required titivation.

A public vote relegated the Old Beacon to third place. There would be no restoration.

Orkney was awash with grief. Citizens sank to their knees in the streets; tearing their hair out, beating their breasts and shouting 'Why, British public, WHY?' The mere mention or sight of Griff Rhys Jones made grown men weep.

We all feel a bit silly now as it has just been announced that the winning building did not need all the money that was raised and that North Ronaldsay's entry shall receive £50,000 pounds. Hooray!

The image shown above is a plan of the proposed site for the lighthouse which replaced the Old Beacon when it was discovered that it ...er... didn't work.

Archive reference: D34/E/5/7

Black Building

The demolition of the 'Black Building', Orkney's war-time communications hub, has begun this week. It has been a controversial decision for some who view the old RAF building as an irreplaceable piece of Kirkwall's history.

For years, small efforts had been made by members of the public to prevent the deterioration of the objects and papers still left in the vacant rooms and we have a very small collection of official (blank) forms and jotters as well as an annotated OS map in the archive. Empty buildings do not take long to destroy themselves, however.

But does something still have to be physically present to serve as a reminder of the past?

Before demolition began, the entire building was laser scanned by Historic Scotland so that a 3-dimensional model can be made, even when the original no longer exists. The Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (or RCAHMS) hold plans, and photographs of exteriors, interiors, building details and aerial views:
HERE

Surely it is the information that counts, especially when any atmosphere of a bustling communications hub must have disappeared as soon as the damp infiltrated and mould, moss and mice took up residence?