The only remaining Chair of Palaeography in the English speaking world is under threat of having its funding withdrawn. Based at King's College London, the chair is under threat as the institution seeks to save £3 million, this year's projected loss, caused partially by the cut in funds by the government.
Palaeography is the study of handwriting, and all the expertise in deciphering ancient charters and squiggly forms of Secretary's Hand and more comes from the knowledge and experience of such knowledgeable bods as our chum at KCL. If it goes, we'll all lose out, perhaps not in our generation, but certainly in years to come when we suddenly realise that we haven't a clue how to analyse ancient documents, as we have quite simply forgotten the expertise and techniques needed to know how to read them.
A petition is available online at www.petitiononline.com/spkcl10/petition.html and a Facebook page on developments is located at www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=303202385890.
Please do think about signing.
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
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