Fereday Prize 2011

We have now finished cataloguing the photocopies of this year's Fereday Prize projects. And what an interesting bunch of subjects this year! The best thing about these projects is that they often cover the history of businesses, people and places from the 20th century and they become a wonderful addition to our existing collections of archives from earlier in history.

This year, there were two first prizes, one from Kirkwall and one from Stromness. From Stromness, Thomas Penny wrote a brilliant account of the history of Motoring in Harray which includes information on the earliest cars and buses as well as interesting interviews with some of the residents of the parish over the years and much more. It's great to read about all their stories.

From Kirkwall, Douglas Corse writes with such feeling of the Longhope Lifeboat Disaster of March 1969, when the lifeboat was lost with all her crew. Douglas has included an interview with his great auntie which adds a personal view to this tragic event and finishes with the poem The Lament for the Longhope Lifeboat by Andrew B Irvine which, he tells us, was read out at the funeral.

Other subjects covered this year were the Rural Cinema Scheme; Uranium Mining; two on Scapa School; James Flett & Sons; Argo's Bakery; the Old Manse in Evie; Mousland Farm; Stromness Police Station; boatbuilder Ian B. Richardson; J & S Hay; Birsay Community Association; the Angel Family; Orkney Weddings; Skaill House; the Russian Convoys; Grain Farm, Kirkwall; Newark Farm, Sanday; The Ba; Sebay Mill; Travelling Studs; Life at Braebuster; Norwood Antiques; Refuge in Harray; James Sinclair, Botanist and The German Flower.

If you did not receive a prize from the Orkney Heritage Society for your project, but still would like to leave a copy in the archives, we would be delighted to receive it. Just drop by sometime and we'll take a copy and give you back the original.

If you would like to see any of this year's projects, the Archive Reference number for each one begins with D70/14.

When a child is born

Rejoice readers, your usual blogger archiver is now the proud mother of a very lovely daughter! We are all cock-a-hoop at this and wish them many hours of undisturbed sleep.

They may now be considering a christening and if so this might be a good time to issue the following warning. John Firth wrote in "Reminiscences of an Orkney Parish" about the dangers of baptising a girl directly before a boy. If this happened "fears were entertained that the girl, on reaching womanhood, would be afflicted with a full flowing whisker, while the other would remain beardless to the end of his days".

Think this is unlikely? Well just take a look at the photograph below. You have been warned!

Get outta that lazy bed

William Peace published an annual Almanac for a number of years and we hold editions from 1864 until 1940. They contain lots of useful information about local traders, church ministers, local officials etc. for each year and are a useful research tool. But more than that, as you can see below in a page from the 1864 edition, they provide all sorts of general advice on how to improve your life. When I read the title "He that would thrive must rise at five!" I thought "excellent, up just in time for The Weakest Link", but on reading further I was disappointed to find that I had misunderstood.

Another section in the same edition is titled Hints to careless wives and includes this dire warning; "Despair and recklessness have been planted in many a man's heart by the untidy dress and cheerless hearth, the sour looks and chilling discontent which await him". No wonder they're all getting up at five to go off to work!

Gone Fishing

The new trout season opened on 15 March and once again men and women all over Orkney dusted off their rods and tackle for the summer ahead. Although fishing in Orkney's lochs is free Orkney Trout Fishing Association maintains fish stocks in the main lochs. The Association was formed on 8 November 1905 when a number of local gentlemen got fed up with indiscriminate use of nets spoiling their gentlemanly fun. The original membership comprised of twenty five men, including two members of parliament, three doctors, fifteen men residing in Orkney and one Admiral.



From D8/4/2/6

Some girls are bigger than others

First I must apologise for my attempt to keep the Smiths song titles link going from the last post. I'm hugely embarrased and obviously nobody should ever think that it applies to the elfin beauty below.

You're probably all too young to remember Mary Marquis but never mind Angela Rippon, Anna Ford or Jan Leeming, Mary became the face of television news in Scotland from 1968 and continued in that role for twenty years. Here she's photographed in Kirkwall in, I'm guessing, the 1970s. I'm not sure why she was in Orkney, perhaps as an early experiment in geese scaring, hence the coat.

This charming man...

In one of the collections we recently sorted through during our closure, we discovered this photograph of a very charming-looking man. He has been through the wars - literally - and we don't really want to throw him out, but if we can't identify him, we may have to. Can you help?

The thot plickens...
I've managed to extract the photo from the frame which looks like its been rescued from a fire. Phew! On the back it says that it was taken at Vivienne 20th Century Studios, London. So sadly not from Orkney, but maybe a film star?

We have a little list

Our short stocktaking closure begins today. This is a far cry from the good old days when we closed for two weeks so, in an effort to appear super organised, we've made a little list. So over the next three days we will be appraising a new collection (very dirty!), matching up retrieval slips with records, moving equipment and boxes to make room for more records and having a big bonfire in the car park.

Ok, maybe not the last one.

We will be open again at 9.15 on Thursday morning, drained from our exertions over the past few days but ready as ever to serve you our (mostly) wonderful public.

Au Revoir Archiver

Yes readers, after long and sterling service as our regular blogger archiver has finally succumbed to the strain and has been confined to home for the next year. Or, as it's sometimes known, maternity leave. Enjoy Jeremy Kyle while you have the chance archiver, your daytime viewing will soon consist of endless episodes of Peppa Pig!

Looking at the images below from D1/517, copies of a menu and programme for a farewell dinner held in honour of HMS Victorious, soon to leave Scapa Flow after World War I, I can't help feeling that we didn't put in enough effort to mark archivers departure. No songs were sung, no toasts were made, not even a short recitation. Just a few lovely homebakes and a cup of tea. Shameful!

Archive Stocktake Closure

The annual archive stock take is fast approaching, so don't get caught out! We shall be closed from Monday the 7th of March until Wednesday the 9th of March inclusive. The archive shall reopen on Thursday the 10th at the normal time of 9.15am.

There shall be no access to the search room and we shall not be taking telephone enquiries.

The Orkney Room shall be open however, so it will be possible to peer through the glass wall and see that we are not counting stock at all, simply eating buns and playing twister.

Library services will not be affected.

A Catch-up.

We do apologize for the relative lack of posts lately. We have been pretty short staffed and it is Fereday time again so there has been much less time to update.

This is annoying, because two excellent blogging opportunities arose this week and we were forced to let them slip through our busy fingers.

First of all, there was Valentine's day. Wait! Come back! Look at these plays and novels written for the Minervian Library by the children who used to live at Tankerness House where the Orkney Museum can now be found:

D98/1/4/12 and D98/1/2/28

D98/1/2/11 and D98/1/2/27

D98/1/2/11

D98/1/2/27

They are contained within hand-stitched covers and some contain lovely illustrations. We like to say the titles by replacing the word 'love' with 'luuuurrrveee'. Try it, it's fun: 'The Effect of Luuuurrrve' by C. Cowan, 'A Tale of True Luuurrrve' by C. Cowan, 'Cecelia Chantry's Luuuurrrrve'  by C. Cowan and 'To Gain His Luuurrrve', A Novel.

Well it makes us laugh.

Also, yesterday was the birthday of Ernest Shackleton. One of the documents in our John Mooney Collection is a telegram signed by Shackleton himself. Erlend Mooney, John's second son, was one of two boy scouts chosen to travel as cabin boys on Shackleton's last expedition.

Unfortunately, Erlend was terribly sea-sick. So much so, that he had to be sent home. Shackleton writes "....regret necessary action, solely in boy's interest he was always willing. "

D49/1/3

Hoorah For Alison and Her Archive!

Pictured above is the latest edition of the New Orkney Antiquarian Journal. This particular edition is a very special one to all of us here at the Orkney Library and Archive as it was written as a tribute to our former Principal Archivist, Alison Fraser, who retired last October and is a very big miss.

The journal begins with a tribute to Alison written by former Assistant Archivist Phil Astley. His piece is then followed by essays by archive staff members (both current and those who have moved on) and users of the archive.

The book is an excellent overview of the history of the service and of Alison's career in Orkney.

There was a small presentation on Monday night which is pictured below. A few speeches were made and chit chat was had. There was also a delightful buffet comprising of sandwiches, home bakes and a platter of fruit. That last detail may seem irrelevant, but we do like a good buffet here.

Alison receives her copy of the journal from Leslie Burgher of the Orkney Heritage Society as library and archive staff and journal contributors look on. (Photo: Orkney Media Group.)

Save Our Libraries Day

Today is save our libraries day and I had planned to post scans of our collection of old library cards, application forms and stamps etc. but the computer connected to my scanner has died! Booooooooooooooooooo.

I expect that downstairs is a heaving throng of sweaty activists who are emptying the shelves of books, using the computers and picking the brains of our gorgeous and impossibly well-informed library assistants.

You can keep up to date with the various events taking place across the country here and there is still over an hour left to pay us a visit.

Anyone who thinks that libraries are not relevant in the digital age should remember that it is not just the books on offer but a sense of community, a quiet place to study, a shelter from the rain, free internet access as well as free computer/internet tuition, expert advice on books/archives/local knowledge, the occasional home bake, an excellent opportunity to ogle comely librarians, magazines, cds, dvds and space to explore your interests and stumble upon new culture.

SOL! SOL! SOL!

Boids

It is the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend! Take an hour to count all the different birds that are in your garden and record them on the RSPB website. See here for details.

Don't worry about seeming uncool, birdwatching's totally in style right now! Camp out in your garden with a stool, sandwiches, notebook and wine box (what?) and you have the makings of a great afternoon. All the cool kids are doing it and birds are cute. We were terribly excited a couple of winters ago when some waxwings began to visit the back of the library to partake of the berries which grow beside the staff car park.

Yeah, you read right, we were excited by birds. We are librarian/archivists okay, whaddya expect?

Aaaagggh!!! They're so tame and cute!!

Below are some images taken from a book of Orkney postcards, each stamped, clearly dated and filed in a Stanley Gibbons folder. Other images shown include St Magnus Cathedral, The Churchilll Barriers, The Old Man Of Hoy, Dounby. Firth, Skara Brae, Stromness, The Standing Stones of Stenness and various other local scenes. The dates range from 1967 - 1971. Also included at the front of the album are four date stamps on squares of paper dating from 1848 and 1852.

I have also scanned a list of (stuffed?) Orkney birds which were being offered for sale by a Mr James Petrie in the latter years of the 19th century.

References:  Postcards- D1/1028, List - D1/321/9

The Wonder That Is A Library

We are lucky in Orkney that our wonderful, hard-working, nice-smelling, intellectually awe-inspiring, well-dressed, kind, sparkling-witted and drop dead gorgeous council are not threatening to do away with our libraries, but sadly this is not the case in many counties.

This speech by Philip Pullman is all over the internet at the moment and is well worth a read.

The Problem With Topical Comedy...

One of our latest acquisitions is this small bundle of postcards. The drawings are fantastic and we would like to know who the artist is...

The images all refer to the Bay of Firth Oyster Fishery and are obviously meant to be humorous but we don't really understand the joke. Something to do with oysters...

Tee hee...

Very droll, I'm sure...

Stop! My sides!

The Syndicate of work!

Insect powder in some bellows, powering a jumper-sailed boat... hilarious!