Whar dis thoo think thoo ar? (Westray)

It's Who Do You Think You Are? Live this month on the 23rd -24th February. http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com/

Whar dae you think you aar? (Sanday)

So we thought we'd help our customers by creating a display which suggests alternative sources of information for family history research.

Whar dae ye think ye er? (Harray)

We show examples of usual sources such as IGI, census, graveyard surveys, parish registers, etc. and also show more unusual sources such as 18th century muster rolls, a 19th century customs & excise book of ships' crews discharged, a commonty map showing tenants names, a school admission register showing pupils names from 1897.

Wha deu you tink you urr? (North Ronaldsay)

We hope to encourage our genealogy customers to dig a little deeper into our archive collections and discover some information treasure of their own. if you know of any other unusual sources, please let us know.

Dear Rest of The World, Is it Tea-time yet?

Orkney is completely connected and global nowadays. We have internet-shopping, the UHI, hats, everything; but this was not always the case.

Reading copies of the John O'Groats Journal, a Caithness paper, from the 1850s highlights how remote the Northern Isles used to be. The news updates from Orkney and Shetland are very occasional, the regularity of the mail service to the isles is referred to as 'a joke' and on the 18th of July 1851, the Stromness correspondent asked WHAT THE TIME WAS...

Sheeply Disturbing

As a lily-livered, city-bred Sooth-moother, I found these photographs of sheep shearing really disturbing when I found them today:

But not as distubing as this:

Aaaaggghhhhh! And look at THIS!:

AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!

Quick! Look at this:

Awwwwwww.

And this:

Lovely!

Images taken from the Orkney Photographic Archive:

Sheep shearing at Grain farm

Unidentified sheep shearing photo.

Two headed sheep.

Pat Cooper's monkey, 1927

D. Gorn's bee-hives in 1932.

P.R.O.U.D.!

Regular readers of this blog may have received the impression that it is merely an excuse for us to write about the celebrity-flavoured nonsense which fills our tiny, malformed brains and to complain incessantly about the weather.

This impression would be mostly correct but it turns out that we have been helping people too! People have found things of interest upon this site and have then contacted us for further information and/or copies!

True, we generally don't answer any of their calls or emails as we are too busy dancing to this, but it feels good to be useful.

This blogpost led to a delighted relation of the servant being indentured getting in touch and receiving a copy of her ancestor's apprenticeship documents. Hooray!

The Fereday Project

It is that time of year again. Again.

Every January the second year pupils of Orkney's two secondary schools complete a local-history themed project and often come here (HERE!) to research them. We cannot help but feel that this seasonal influx of new users, although very welcome, clashes badly with our desire to curl up on the ground behind the counter eating left over Christmas sweets and waiting for Spring.

Be gentle with us children for we grow older each year. Any time you are not in here being young, free and thirsty for knowledge we gently embrace each other whilst swaying along to this and feeding each other chocolates:

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our lovely followers. I hope you all had a great holiday full of laughter, singing and parties.

Talking of singing, here is a link to The Big Orkney Song Project's version of the New Year Song. Every year we have a little bit more information about this song, which was once sung throughout Orkney on New Year's Eve.

And this year all the details, words and music can be found in a book & CD which was published in 2012. It's called "Voices in Chorus Songs and their stories from The Big Orkney Song Project" by Sarah Jane Gibbon. In this book you'll also find lots of information about other Orkney songs which the project gathered from our archive collection and the Orkney community.

"the men of a district travelled around the houses performing the song. An older man led the singing, the other men joined in the chorus, and one man carried a caisie (creel) on his back in which to gather food and drink. The bounty was shared out at the last house visited, where the men held a party." http://www.reverbnation.com/bigorkneysongproject/song/2535631-the-new-year-song

The book can be purchased here: http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/ORKNEYSINGERS/index.asp?pageid=3863

Don't Fear The Spinsterhood...

We love It's A Wonderful Life here at Orkney Library and Archive, don't get us wrong, but there is one scene in particular which irks us a little:




Yes, we are all spinsters, yes, we all wear spectacles and yes we dress like our grans but no librarian or archivist would ever, ever break into a run.

Come Back Sun! (Whatever we did or said, we're SORRY!)

The only way to describe the weather in Kirkwall today is the noise "UUUUUUUUURRRRRRGGGGHHHH!"

How wet, how cold, how windy, and dark. Not even the reappearance of our flock of waxwings outside the window can lift our soggy, water-logged hearts.

Thank goodness for Stromness library's wonderful advent calendar then which has been filling our days with cosy, Christmas cheer and reminding us of classic children's serials such as The Box Of Delights and The Children of Greene Knowe.

We therefore humbly remind you dear readers of the1988 BBC adaptation of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe which is the final member of the holy trinity of Children's Christmas shows.


We don't have anything to do with this C. S. Lewis classic in the archive but we do have the screenplay of Margaret Tait and Peter Hollander's documentary of Perugia entitled The Lion, The Griffin and The Kangaroo as well as some lovely snapshots taken by Margaret Tait when she was living in Italy.

Screenplay ref: D97/9/6, Photographs ref: D97/29/14

Get Het Up About Hetty...

If you have time, take a look at this wonderful blog by Highland Archives Service. It is called Caithness At War and tells the story of WW2 in real time, starting from August 1939 this past August and, presumably,  continuing into 1940 when the new year arrives.

The weekly articles are illustrated by newspaper clippings and several excerpts from Henrietta 'Hetty' Munro's war time diary which we also hold here at the Orkney Archive. Have a look, do! Do! Go on! Do!

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.)

Touché, Touché, Away!

We are not too strict in the Orkney Archive. We tolerate chatter as long as it does not drown out our own gossipping; turn deaf ears to the mobile phones of visibly embarrassed readers and we have even been known to allow people to keep their bags by their side if they dance for us a little.

But. No drinks, no pens, no unauthorised photos and no culottes. We don't like them.

Today is the birthday of the fab Mandy Patinkin who played the greatest alcoholic, sword-slashing Spaniard of all time: Inigo Montoya. In honour of this day, if patrons break any of our rules this week then they shall feel the sharp tap of steel upon one shoulder. When they turn around, they shall be greeted by the sight of a member of the archive staff wielding a glinting sword and wearing a leather jerkin and velvet pantaloons. They shall then hear these chilling words:

"My name is archivist,

You spill your juice/write on vellum/take sneaky photo/look unbecoming

Prepare to die."

If said customer has neglected to bring their sword then they shall be provided with one and then they shall fight us to the death. Or to the pain.

Do You Like Boats?

TK1561 - Stromness Harbour

 We have a new item on the Archive page of the Orkney Library & Archive website. Thanks to the work of our wonderful volunteers, we can now offer you an index to the Orkney Customs & Excise Fishing Boat Registers. You can see it here

TK1563 - Stromness Fishing Fleet

 After months of indexing work, our lovely volunteers have completed this fine list. We have ordered it alphabetically according to the name of the vessel, but you can also search the whole document for other information.

TK1569 - Kirkwall Fishing Fleet

 So, if your ancestor had a boat with the number K212, which is tucked in on the left of the picture above, then you could use the index to find out that the name of the boat was Bonnie Lassie from Sanday.



TK1566

And in the picture above, if you can ignore the man at the front (who looks like he has thrown the lid of that box in the water) and find 1318K, you can discover in the index that its name was Laju and it was owned and skippered by Samuel Jones in 1893 and James Walls in 1906.

The Guide to Records in the Nation Archives of Scotland webpage states that:

"Ships and fishing boats must be registered in a port of registry before they can be navigated. Local customs officers frequently maintained shipping registers and sea fishing boat registers on behalf of the Registrar-General of Seamen from 1786, and surviving registers of these ports are included among the Customs and Excise records. Though the information contained in shipping registers can vary, they usually record the names of ships, their owners and changes in ownership, the ship's master and a basic description of the vessel, including the year it was built and its size and tonnage."

We have not included the extra information in the index, but if you are curious to know more about the fishing boat, then you can visit us to see the original book or ask us to look it up for you.

Nooooooooooo!(vember)

The 1st of November is a sad day for Movember widows. Women and men whose special menfriends' faces are usually cloaked in a lovely, beardy foliage were confronted this morning with weak jawlines, chin spots and hitherto unsuspected moles.

The challenge of starting the month of November clean-shaven and letting only the mustachios grow freely is for a very good cause. However, as a firm believer that hair is like black fabric; slimming, stylish and a perfect hiding place for food stains, this venture does sadden me somewhat.

Lovers of the hirsute! Fans of Mr Twit! Let us celebrate the marvellous face thatch that is soon to decorate the faces of our loved ones with these fab pictures from the Orkney Photographic Archive...

Mmmmm...

Nice....

Like a stern walrus...

A frothy concoction...

That is one warm top lip...

Like an upside down woodland . On a chin.

Photos of Ernest Shearer (1878-1945), James Sutherland, Fred Shearer (1874 - 1955), James Shearer, William Shearer (1877 - c.1902) and Rev. James Stuart, ordained 1868, died 1883.)

Hello Hallowe'en!

This year's Hallowe'en archive is a letter from Margaret Robertson of Buttquoy Kirkwall to her older brother Duncan telling him about her Hallowe'en plans.

We always enjoy wee Madge's letters as she does not hold back. One unfortunate acquaintance of the family is charmingly referred to as 'an old pig' in this particular missive dating from 1875. We are also treated to the tale of the untimely death of Whity the fat, turnip - munching rabbit.

Tonight we shall be hiding in the house, eating the guisers' sweets and shaking our fists impotently as our door and windows are festooned with eggs and flour.


Orkney Archive Reference D99/3/1/16

A Classic One-liner!

Here's a spooky picture for Halloween Week that's so clever I just can't believe it!

I really hope it wasn't a true likeness, as I would not like to meet this woman (?) on a dark night...

This photograph of a picture is taken from the Tom Kent Collection, reference L683/1.