Sandwich Week Top Trump

Dusty: Oh archiver, aren't the literary sandwiches the library have been preparing for British Sandwich Week brilliant?


Archiver: S'pose so...


Dusty: You love sandwiches don't you?


Archiver: They're ok.


Dusty: What's up buddy?


Archiver: It's just hard... Loving sandwiches so much and not being able to join in... I checked to see if we had anything relevant to post and there was nothing; just a few jam recipes and a misspelled reference to the parish of Sandwick...


Dusty: What about the letters from the 14th Earl of Morton to the Earl of Sandwich when Morton was imprisoned in the Bastille?


Archiver: WHAT????!!!!

Orkney Archive Reference D36/2/12



James Douglas, the Earl of Morton, was imprisoned in the Bastille for three months in late 1746 according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He was detained alongside his servants, wife and family because he did not have any documents of residency. He seems to have been trapped in France until at least February 1747.


The archive hold a second letter wherein he requests that John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich aka The INVENTOR OF SANDWICHES, send him and his servants a passport. But not his wife and children.

Literary Leching / Posthumous Perving.

Orkney Archive Reference D23/29/6

Dusty: (sliding magazine onto table) Isn't he lovely?

Archiver: Ooooh! Lovely! Who's that?

Dusty: J. Storer Clouston. He was very good looking don't you think?

Archiver: Yes, handsome. Indeed...

Dusty: So handsome.

Archiver: Yep.

Dusty: A brilliant writer too of course.

Archiver: Oh yeah. Definitely.

Dusty: Nice cheek bones...

Archiver: Yeah...

Sound Familiar?



Taken from The Genealogy of the Orkney Traills byWilliam Traill of Woodwick, 1883.

 Apologies for the lengthy break in blogging but we were just too full of Christmas pies and busy playing with our new lego sets to manage until now.

Today is, of course, Burn's night and I informed Dusty that I intended to celebrate this by posting verses by Colonel Thomas Traill the 1st of Holland (1618 - 1648) which many believe to have been an inspiration for 'My Love is Like A Red, Red Rose'.

This was risky as Dusty has been in a deeply committed, albeit posthumous, relationship with Rabbie since the early 90s. "It's a rumour", she said sternly. "There's NO proof that Traill's was the original! Robert travelled a lot, he could have heard it anywhere"

Proof schmoof. It's a nice version.

Dame Difference

'I'm writing a blog about Pantomimes!' said Dusty brightly as I entered the archives.

'Are you?' I said.

Dusty stared at me coldly. 'You were supposed to say "Oh no you're not, ' " she said quietly.

'Oh no you're not!' I shouted but it was too late...

Later that day Dusty couldn't find her favourite feather duster (the pink one). 'Where is? Where is it?' she kept saying whilst dramatically 'looking' for it.

I found this strange as it was very obviously protruding from the back of her chair. 'I... I think it's maybe on your seat,' I offered, disturbed by her maniacal zeal.

Dusty promptly snatched the duster, sat down and turned to her work. That was a week ago and I've not had a word since. I thought I heard a low 'hsssssss' though and once, a very quiet 'booooooooooooooooo....'

A Cast of Cinderella (ref L4062/3)

                                           Poster advertising Kirkwall Arts Club's production of Sleeping Beauty.  

 ref D44/5/15

The South Ronaldsay Dramatic Society's 1910 production of 'The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe.'

The Cast of Panto-revue 'Cinderella or Phew It's Warm.' 

Ref D1/117/1: Script for "Cinderella - a pantomime in four acts", performed by the Red Triangle Club, Y.M.C.A., .Kirkwall. Found in a darkroom in Kirkwall library and transferred to the archives.


(The lovely dame up top is taken from the cast photos of Orphir's 1999 panto Snow White.)