A project to share information from the UNESCO-recognised Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire’s archives for community access was yesterday awarded £23,636.
The grant to Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums at the Finance and Resource Committee yesterday is for the Sharing the Archives project, which focusses on community access to the archives during a period of closure at one of the current locations.
Finance and Resource Committee convener Councillor Alex McLellan said: “Our archives are recognised as being of outstanding historical importance to the nation so it is fitting that until a new home is found for the records stored in the Old Aberdeen House in Old Aberdeen, there will still be access for some of them meantime.
“The archives service provides an important record of the city and wider region and is much used by both locals and people interested in the history or heritage of the area so it is fitting that a temporary home is found for some of these records.”
Aberdeen has the oldest and most complete archive of any Scottish town, with a near continuous run of council registers from 1398 to the present day. Such is the value and significance of these records that in July 2013, the eight earliest volumes spanning 1398 to 1511 were recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as being of outstanding historical importance to the nation.
The report to committee said the archive housed in Old Aberdeen House will be packed up and sent into deep storage for a number of years whilst a new permanent home is found. Some of the collection will be temporarily re-located to the Town House in the city centre alongside the current elements of the city’s archive that reside there.
During the period where public access is reduced, the team will develop a series of small displays that will focus on the archives in locations such as the Art Gallery, city libraries, Aberdeen Airport and, if possible, empty units as part of the Our Union Street project.
Working closely with partners, the topics explored will change and could include refence to a past “tall ship” setting sail from Aberdeen to Newfoundland in the 1590s, stories exploring LGBTQIA+ histories, the Polish diaspora and the community now in Aberdeen which is a proposed project focus for Aberdeen City Heritage Trust in the next three years.
The use of purpose-made cases designed to safeguard this important historic archive will enable public access to be maintained and will ensure the message of how important the archive is to the city to be shared
The grant was awarded from 2023/24 £590,000 of funds allocated to the Council from the Scottish Government Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP).