Behind the scenes of new University of Glasgow Library foyer display

The University of Glasgow Library has blogged about a new exhibition display in its foyer showcasing items from its heritage collections. The post describes the care taken to put an exhibition of this nature together, going behind the scenes to reveal some of the challenges its faces when creating such displays.

You can read about the new display at https://universityofglasgowlibrary.wordpress.com/2025/10/17/behind-the-scenes-of-a-new-display/.

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

National Library of Scotland touring exhibitions in September

From the National Library of Scotland (www.nls.uk), news of  touring exhibnitions making their way around Scotland in September:

Scotland’s Photograph Album – Explore 100 years of Scottish photography at Newington Library, available until 03 November. See https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/directory-record/1229192/newington-library for more information. 

 

Lifting the Lid – Learn about the history of Scottish food and drink. The tour around West Lothian Libraries starts today. To see specific locations and dates, visit https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/libraries

Going to the Pictures – Discover the magic of the movies in Scotland by visiting our displays touring around @LiveArgyllLib starting with Oban Library from 20 September. Visit https://liveargyll.co.uk/facilities/libraries/ for more information. 

 

If you are interested in hosting one of our free touring displays, please contact exhibitions@nls.uk

 

(Source: NLS on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NationalLibraryOfScotland)

 

 

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

National Library of Ireland's Big Houses in Ireland online exhibition

The National Library of Ireland is hosting an online exhibition entitled Power & Privilege: the Big House in Ireland. From the site:

Ireland's “Big Houses” were the large country homes of local landlords. Most of them were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were usually surrounded by large estates. Tenants on the estate rented the land from their landlords.

These photographs, collected by the National Library of Ireland, capture scenes from life in the Big Houses before this way of life disappeared. The period they capture looks peaceful and prosperous, but by the 1920s the landlord system in Ireland had been dismantled. Without their large estates, combined with the economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s, few families could afford the upkeep of these homes, and the era of the “Big House” ended.

You can access the exhibition at https://artsandculture.google.com/story/9wWhhV1p6BkA8A 

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

NLS exhibition: Sgeul / Story - Folktales from the Scottish Highlands

A new exhibition at the National Library of Scotland (www.nls.uk) seeks to share the Gaelic folklore of the Highlands:

Sgeul / Story : Folktales from the Scottish Highlands 

Sgeul | Story is an exhibition in Gaelic and English about stories and storytelling traditions.

People share stories every day. A story is kept alive by a storyteller telling it to others. Folktales have survived all over the world, passed on from generation to generation.

Scotland is rich in stories but once upon a time, Scottish Gaelic folktales were almost unknown beyond the Highlands. In 1859, folklorist John Francis Campbell began to collect Scottish Gaelic folktales. He found a treasure trove.

Campbell worked with a team of helpers to gather folktales. They travelled from place to place across the western Highlands and Islands of Scotland meeting with storytellers.

See the manuscript diaries kept by Campbell and the watercolours he painted. In the storytelling area, you can read and listen to some of the folktales given by the storytellers in Gaelic and English.

Find out what stories and storytelling mean to Gaelic speakers of all ages today.

Tha Sgeul | Story na taisbeanadh ann an Gàidhlig agus Beurla mu sgeulachdan agus traidiseanan seanchais.

Bidh daoine ag innse sgeulachdan gach latha. Tha sgeul air a cumail beò le sgeulaiche ga h-innse do dhaoine eile. Tha beul-aithris ann air feadh an t-saoghail, air a thoirt seachad bho ghinealach gu ginealach.

Tha beairteas de sgeulachdan aig Alba ach uair den t-saoghal is beag gun robh fios aig mòran dhaoine air beul-aithris na Gàidhlig taobh a-muigh na Gàidhealtachd fhèin. Ann an 1859, thòisich an t-eòlaiche beul aithris Iain Frainsias Caimbeul (Iain Òg Ìle) air sgeulachdan Gàidhlig na h-Alba a chruinneachadh. Lorg e mòr-ulaidh dha-rìribh.

Bha an Caimbeulach ag obair còmhla ri sgioba de luchd-cuideachaidh gus sgeulachdan a chruinneachadh. Shiubhail iad bho àite gu àite air feadh taobh siar na Gàidhealtachd agus Innse Gall a’ coinneachadh ri sgeulaichean.

Faic na leabhraichean-latha ann an cruth làmh-sgrìobhainnean a sgrìobh an Caimbeulach agus na dealbhan dath-uisge a pheant e. Ann an àrainn nan sgeulachdan, faodaidh tu cuid den bheul-aithris a thug na seanchaidhean seachad ann an Gàidhlig agus Beurla a leughadh agus èisteachd riutha.

Faigh a-mach na tha sgeulachdan agus seanchas a’ ciallachadh do luchd na Gàidhlig de gach aois san latha an-diugh.

The exhibition continues until April 20th. The exhibition space is open during the following hours:

Monday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Tuesday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Wednesday: 10am to 7pm.
Thursday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Friday: 9:30am to 5pm.
Saturday: 9:30am to 5pm.
Sunday: Closed.

Admission is free.

Tha mi'n dòchas gun còrd an taisbeanadh ribh! (I hope you enjoy the exhibition!)

(Source: https://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/sgeul-story/)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Declaration of Arbroath to go on display at National Museum of Scotland

Delayed because of the pandemic, the Declaration of Arbroath is finally to be made accessible to view next week. From the National Records of Scotland:

The Declaration of Arbroath will be displayed at the National Museum of Scotland this summer for the first time in 18 years. The display has been organised in partnership between National Museums Scotland and National Records of Scotland. The famous document will be on show from 3 June to 2 July 2023. 

The Declaration has not been on public display for 18 years, when it was last displayed at the Scottish Parliament. The iconic and fragile 700-year-old document can only be displayed occasionally in order to ensure its long-term preservation.

"As long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself".

These are the best known words in the Declaration of Arbroath, foremost among Scotland's state papers and the most famous historical record held by National Records of Scotland. The Declaration is a letter written in 1320 by the barons and whole community of the kingdom of Scotland to the pope, asking him to recognise Scotland's independence and acknowledge Robert the Bruce as the country's lawful king.

For more on the story read the NRS's full article at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/Declaration

The document itself will be on display at the National Museum of Scotland, Exhibition Gallery 2, Level 3, and will be free to view. For further details visit https://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/national-museum-of-scotland/declaration-of-arbroath/

Chris   

(Source: Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Arbroath)

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Legacies of Slavery exhibition in Aberdeen

From the University of Aberdeen (https://www.abdn.ac.uk), details of a new exhibition running until December:

Legacies of Slavery: Transatlantic Slavery and Aberdeen

A new exhibition exploring the North-East's links to the slave trade.

‘Legacies of Slavery: Transatlantic Slavery and Aberdeen’ is a new exhibition exploring the North-East’s links to the slave trade.

It forms part of the University’s commitment to improve understanding of both the institution’s own colonial legacy and the wider region’s connections to the enslavement of people.

‘Legacies of Slavery: Transatlantic Slavery and Aberdeen’ will run from March 27 to December 2, 2023 at the University of Aberdeen’s Sir Duncan Rice Library Gallery.

Entry is FREE. 

For details on opening hours, visit https://www.abdn.ac.uk/events/18734/

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Two new exhibitions at the National Library of Scotland

There are two new exhibitions commencing at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh (www.nls.uk):

Petticoats and Pinnacles: Scotland's pioneering mountain women

This exhibition reveals how women have overcome physical and social barriers to spend time in the mountains — not only as climbers but as writers, artists and leaders.

This exhibition will run from 10 July 2021 to 28 May 2022.

Further details at https://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/petticoats-and-pinnacles/


The Eye of a Stranger: Henrietta Liston's travels

This exhibition tells the story of Henrietta Liston's travels in the Ottoman Empire. Henrietta and her husband, the Scottish diplomat Robert Liston, lived at the British Embassy in Constantinople (Istanbul) between the years 1812 and 1820.

The exhibition will run from 10 July to 6 November 2021.

Further details at https://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/henrietta-liston/

 

For information about visiting the NLS please visit https://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/visit/

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Belfast City Hall Visitor Exhibition

On Saturday I had the good fortune to be able to spend an hour at Belfast City Hall, home to Belfast City Council (https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk), a building I have never been in before despite having studied in the city for two years and having grown up in a small town just nine miles away! In addition to being able to sign a book of condolence for former Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon, I was also able to visit the impressive exhibition showcasing the history of a divided city, but also one of the most wonderful cities on Earth.

The exhibition is based in 16 rooms on the ground floor of the building, and has themed rooms on a variety of subjects, such as famous Belfast people, language (I haven't heard the phrase 'lose the bap' in years!), the Home Rule and Easter Rising periods, and from a genealogy point of view also had some superb interactive tools from PRONI (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni), such as a searchable version of the 1897 Belfast city directory, and the 1912 Ulster Covenant - both of which, I have to say, were incredibly easy to use, not least the 1897 directory!

If you can get to Belfast and can spare an hour, it will be well rewarded. And if you have a bit more time, there are also regular free guided tours of other parts of the building normally closed off to the public.

Some images...

 

For more on the exhibition, visit https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/tourism-venues/cityhall/exhibition.aspx.

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.