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                  Cockburn Association

                  The Cockburn Association was founded in 1875 to promote and encourage the care and conservation of Edinburgh’s unique architectural and landscape heritage.  

                  The Association is one of the oldest conservation, planning and architectural advocacy organisations in the world.  It takes its name from Lord Cockburn (1779-1854), a renown Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure, who can claim to be one of Scotland’s first conservationists.  His 1849 publication A Letter to the Lord Provost on the Best Ways of Spoiling the Beauty of Edinburgh provided the inspiration to establish a popular organisation and it remains as relevant today as when it was first penned.

                  The Cockburn Association’s objectives are to promote and encourage:  

                  1. the maintenance, improvement and promotion of the amenity of the City of Edinburgh and its neighbourhood;
                  2. the protection, preservation and conservation of the City’s landscape and historic and architectural heritage.

                  From the outset, the Association’s ambitions have been forward-looking.  At its inaugural meeting in 1875, it expressed its initial objectives as creating publicly accessible green spaces for recreation; reducing air and water pollution; regulating and improving building standards and preserving the best of the city’s existing architecture treasures. 

                  Today, its concerns range from conservation of the city’s architectural heritage, to the liberalization of planning and other regulatory systems guiding good development, and to the commodification of civic spaces and overtourism.   

                  Archive Access and Management 

                  The Cockburn Association’s Archive Collections provide a rich resource on heritage, amenity and development issues and history.  They include: 

                  • The official Archive records of the Association including records of its governing Council and Committees, correspondence, Annual Reports, newsletters and other publications. 
                  • A valuable collection of photographs, plans, submissions and other documents relating to specific policy and development casework, ranging from architectural proposals to major public policy initiatives and issues in which the Association has been involved over the years.  
                  • Substantial Boxes including collection of pamphlets, reports, publications and other materials relating to planning in Edinburgh. 

                  Cataloguing and partial digitisation of the archives collections is currently in progress. This forms part of the 150th anniversary activities over the course of 2025-26, with the intention of publishing on-line core material such as Annual Reports, Newsletters and Minutes of meetings.  

                  Materials can be accessed by researchers by appointment at the Cockburn’s premises in Edinburgh. Digital or print copies may also be provided for relevant materials, subject to a fee and subject to any copyright or other restrictions.  

                  The Cockburn Association

                  Trunk’s Close, 55 High Street 

                  Edinburgh  EH1 1SR 

                  T: (44)131-557-8686 

                  www.cockburnassociation.org.uk 

                  archives@cockburnassociation.org.uk 

                  For more information, view Cockburn Association repository page

                  Your Scottish Archives online Q&A: Thursday 20th March

                  Join us for an opportunity to discuss Your Scottish Archives, the online portal designed to enhance access to Scotland’s rich archival collections.

                  Date: Thursday 20th March 2025

                  Time: 10:00-11:00am, via Zoom

                  Developed by the Scottish Council on Archives in collaboration with Archives Hub, Your Scottish Archives will improve how users discover and engage with Scotland’s archives. The portal will improve the level of access to archive collections available to current and potential users; provide more opportunities for engagement both physically and virtually; and includes resources for members of the public, historians, researchers and genealogists who wish to interact with, understand and use Scotland’s archives.

                  This webinar is aimed at organisations based in Scotland who are interested in contributing descriptions of their archive collections to Your Scottish Archives. We can cover questions on cataloguing requirements, contributor workflows and anything else that might be useful if you are thinking about getting involved!

                  Why attend this session?

                  • Learn how your archive service can become a contributor
                  • Understand the process of contributing and updating your data
                  • Ask the team your questions

                  Sign up via Eventbrite

                  Your Scottish Archives Day: Your Scottish Archives portal

                  Do you want to make your collections searchable on one consolidated site and join over 100 archives across Scotland participating in Your Scottish Archives? Or do you just want to find out more about the project and hear more about Scottish archives?

                  Join the Archives & Records Association on Friday 28th of February at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and be introduced to the YSA Portal.

                  The event will include speakers from various institutions who have made their collections available on the portal, as well as speakers from the Scottish Council on Archives who will introduce the project and explain how you can get started making your collections available on the portal.

                  There will then be time for attendees to discuss their experiences with sharing their archive collections, followed by time for refreshments and networking, and an opportunity to view a selection of items from Glasgow City Archives.

                  Confirmed Speakers:

                  • John Pelan, Scottish Council on Archives
                  • Barbara McLean, Glasgow City Archives
                  • Harvey Kaplan, Scottish Jewish Archives Centre
                  • Grania Diver, Scottish Council on Archives

                  Schedule:
                  09:30 – Registration
                  10:00 – event start, introduction
                  10:30 – speakers
                  11:30 – coffee break
                  12:00 – speakers
                  13:00 – conclusion to speakers, time for discussion, lunch and networking
                  14:00 – event close

                  Booking costs: ARA members free and Non members £5

                  Bookings will close on Friday 21st February at 5pm.

                  If you have any questions about this event please contact us at arascotland@archives.org.uk

                  Find out more and book via Eventbrite.

                  YSA is live!

                  The new Your Scottish Archives portal was launched on Tuesday 10th December 2024, at the SCA Annual Conference in Stirling.

                  Your Scottish Archives is a unique project to gather and make available worldwide, through a dynamic online portal, catalogue descriptions from archives across Scotland, including local authority, health, business and community archives, and records of under-represented groups. This major new resource is managed by the Scottish Council on Archives (SCA) partnering with Jisc/Archives Hub. It will build capacity amongst archive holders and develop skills, particularly amongst local communities, making an enormous contribution to the wider heritage sector by improving access to Scotland’s documented past.

                  Your Scottish Archives (YSA) currently display catalogue entries from over sixty Scottish repositories, including local authority, universities, heritage organisations and community groups. It is packed with guidance, links and resources for all users of online archive, both experienced and new.

                  This is phase one of the site. Phase two in spring 2025 will include improved hierarchical display of records and search functionality. As the site grows, we hope more repositories will contribute catalogues descriptions.

                  For all comments and questions please email your@scottisharchives.org.uk

                  Call for Applications: A Year in the Life of a Community Archive 2025

                  person with blue vinyl gloves handling document with more documents lying on table

                  Would you like to be archive of the year featured on the Scottish Council on Archives website?

                   

                  It’s an opportunity to highlight the work that you do, all your activities, the challenges you face and the opportunities you capture.

                  Take a look at this year’s archive that we have followed: the Museum of Scottish Railways Archive.

                   

                  What’s involved:

                  • monthly blogs
                  • photographs and/or videos
                  • time commitment of approximately an hour a week (more at the beginning while we set things up)

                   

                  What you will gain:

                  • develop your relationship with SCA
                  • access to opportunities through our networks
                  • able to promote the work you have been doing to the wider sector

                   

                  You must be based in Scotland to apply.

                  If you are interested please fill out our short application survey.

                  Your Scottish Archives to be launched at SCA Annual Conference

                  The SCA Annual Conference on 10th December 2024, Building Evidence will explore how archives and records support engagement with, conservation of, and research into Scotland’s historic environment. The event will be structured around the three priority areas of Our Past, Our Future – The Strategy for Scotland’s Historic Environment:

                  1. Delivering the transition to net zero
                  2. Empowering resilient and inclusive communities and places
                  3. Building a wellbeing economy

                  In addition to these key themes, Building Evidence will shine a spotlight on the urgent need for a national strategy for archives and records in Scotland, ensuring their preservation and relevance for future generations.

                  The new Your Scottish Archives portal will be launched at the conference.

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                  MS 458 The Alexander Low collection

                  Most of us have some old family photos, letters or documents tucked away in a drawer or in the attic, but how many of us have over 20 boxes relating to eight families, dating back to 1723? Alexander JS Low did and decided to give them to us, University of Dundee Archive Services. The bonus is that Alex was a photojournalist and also donated the slides and prints of assignments that saw him travel across the globe in the 1960s and ‘70s.
                  Alex’s international career is echoed in his family records. Originating in Kirriemuir and Dundee, descendants married into families from France and Ireland as well as the UK, with members trading in places like Mexico and Singapore. Their letters, journals, sketches, photographs, financial and legal papers not only reflect their cosmopolitan backgrounds and lifestyles, but also detail their personal achievements and difficulties.  

                  The letters are particularly revealing; young Kenneth Low (b 1902) regularly wrote home with news of life at his school, often asking for help with his sums, and for news of his brother Gerald, reported missing at the start of WW1. Their father’s correspondence includes letters of concern and then condolence from relatives and friends when Gerald’s death was confirmed.  

                  Another ancestor, Dr AJ Halley (1823-1875), was bedevilled by financial problems. He writes to his elderly father, the Sardinian consul in Madeira, worrying that ’you do not take exercise enough, you should go about more’, but also about his ‘money difficulties’, a theme which continued throughout his life. The West family correspondence reveal the mental health issues of son George (1875-1951) throughout his army career in England, Africa and Russia, and his eventual death in Holloway Sanatorium. Alex himself wrote to his parents describing his photo assignments in India and across Argentina – which he was keen to leave for the USA. 

                  The families’ artworks are also of special interest. The oldest in the collection is a small, annotated water colour of a battle at Naples, given in 1810 to James Chabot (1779-1850), a merchant in Malta, with a description of the battle.  

                  But the more usual kind of artwork can be found in Eliza Hally’s (fl 1835-1840) scrapbook album which contains handwritten verses and illustrations of flora and fauna mostly done while she was living in Madeira with her husband.  

                  Chabot’s daughter married into the Low family, who were particularly talented and produced watercolours and sketches of scenes around their homes and of their travels.  

                  Gerald Low’s (1895-1914) talent stretched from scenic watercolour sketches to cartoons, recording scenes around his home and while on holiday. He was evidently drawing from an early age and his cartoon suggests Gerald had a sense of humour.

                  Despite their liking of the pencil and brush, the Low family also embraced photography early, and the collection holds several daguerreotypes and ambrotypes featuring family members.  Luckily, most of the photographs in the collection are titled, so we can often trace a life from birth, through school and across adulthood, gaining insights into relationships. 

                   AG Low (1853-1936) was a particularly enthusiastic photographer, and passed his passion to his sons, especially to AH Low (1892-1974), who introduced the basic techniques to his own son, Alex. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Alex grew up to be such a successful photojournalist, the first picture editor and staff photographer of the new colour supplement, the Weekend Telegraph. 

                  Discover more about the Alexander Low collection 

                     

                  Corporation of Glasgow Collection

                  The core Glasgow archive collections (ref: GB 243 / A-H) are those which document the rise of various public bodies in the city until many united under the banner of Glasgow Corporation (GC), the largest local authority in Scotland and, for a period, the largest city administration under one council in the UK. 

                   From the earliest document of 1180 until GC ceased to exist in 1975, these collections cover nine centuries’ worth of charters, deeds, minutes, registers, plans, photographs, maps and publications among other record types.  

                   In these archives, Glasgow is represented as a burgh, a town council and a city corporation. And, as the city grew, so did its responsibilities. It acquired powers to intervene across a wide range of activities, providing new services to the people of Glasgow. This municipal socialism reflected Glasgow’s position as the second city of the British Empire. Glasgow’s growing sprawl and responsibilities also increased the complexity of the city’s municipal machinery which produced these historic records now in the City Archives collections.  

                   Collection highlights

                   After the formation of GC in 1895, these public functions were eventually assigned to individual departments (ref: GB 243 D). Overall, there were almost forty, dealing with public health, poor relief, education, roads, transport, gas, electricity, water, sewerage, parks, museums and libraries among others. One of the most unusual was the short-lived Telephone Department, the only Corporation department to face private competition for its services.  

                   Among these records are seminal reports, the names of which will be familiar to students of Glasgow’s history. Life in One Room (1888) by James Burn Russell, Medical Officer of Health which highlighted how the poorest in the city lived and the struggles these conditions caused. The First Planning Report of the Glasgow Corporation, (Mar 1945) by Robert Bruce, Master of Works and City Engineer which envisioned an entirely new city centre and to which the city centre portion of the M8 owes its existence.  

                   Ways in which they’ve been used for research 

                   As the Glasgow Corporation departmental records (ref: GB 243 D) contain some of our most popular sources for family history, they are well used for that purpose. Particularly popular sources include our school admission registers and log books (ref: GB 243 D-ED7), our cemetery and crematoria records (ref: GB 243 D-CEM) and our poor relief applications (ref: GB 243 D-HEW10-17). 

                   Recent academic research has focused on the Glasgow Burgh records (ref: GB 243 B) and the Council Proceedings (ref: GB 243 C). Topics include married women’s property rights in the seventeenth-century and sports during 1500 – 1700.  The records were also used in last year’s Glasgow Slavery Audit, a report produced for Glasgow City Council to determine the historic connections and modern legacies derived from the Atlantic slave trade. 

                   Good to know? 

                   Glasgow’s local authority archives are of local, national and international importance. We are delighted that the catalogues of these historic records (which often include item-level descriptions) are now publicly available online for the first time.