Strictly No Drilling!

The student fees vote is the biggest story this morning and looks to be a hot topic for some time to come. Below are some images relating to  probably the biggest protest to take place in Orkney.

In the late 1970s, exploratory surveys of uranium-rich land just north of Stromness were planned, to great public opposition. The Orcadian protests were much more subdued than those seen in London yesterday. Around four hundred people turned up on Broad Street for a silent protest and many children were present.

Plan of proposed drilling area from The Scotsman dated 23rd February 1977

Images taken from the Press & Journal dated 9th of February 1977

 

The government ministers involved tried appearing on a festive Strictly Come Dancing special to win folk over but the population were moved by neither sequins nor prowess with a flippy little cape and the plans for drilling were dropped.


Information taken from the Ernest Walker Marwick Collection reference D31/28/2

Dispatches From The Summer Assistant #4: Palaeography

I must admit that despite having taken palaeography classes, yesterday I struggled to read some documents which a reader had asked for copies of. The documents dated around 1700 and were viewed on microfilm. Even knowing some of the different conventions in old handwriting it has always been the case that some people have neater handwriting than others. Be glad that this blog is typed!

Enough excuses… my experience yesterday reminded me how difficult it can be to read forms of handwriting with which you are not familiar. There are various ways that you can learn palaeography (the conventions and form of old handwriting, with all of its flourishes and abbreviations). It is also good to practice, with yesterday’s experience coming as a timely reminder of this.

Many courses in history or archives offer classes in palaeography but if you want to do something less formal there are some really interesting sources for help. In our archive searchroom we have reference books on Scottish palaeography, which you can look at if you are finding documents difficult to read. Alternatively, online tuition can be found at http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/. This website offers a great introduction and tasks to help you practice.

I am currently using a few documents from our archives for a dissertation, on my archives course. It seemed appropriate to post an image of the one with the most fancy flourishes, although it is not particularly difficult to read.



This example of a protest shows some interesting features relating to diplomatics. Diplomatics is an area of study often associated with palaeography. Diplomatics is concerned with features such as stamps, seals and signatures which are often related to authenticity.

If you ever have difficulties reading an old document in the archives, just ask for help. Our palaeographic skills may not be perfect but we will try our best. For details of our attempts to get to grips with old writing, click here.