The Argyll Papers
The archivist, now a permanent employee of Argyll Estates, has been working to develop and enhance the collection at Inveraray through improving the physical storage of the collection (monitoring and improving the environmental conditions of storage, upgrading boxes and folder to current archival standards; prioritising conservation requirements); providing access to the collection for researchers and answering remote enquiries; providing assistance with interpretation to Inveraray Castle; building relationships with universities (in 2018-19 we had interns from the universities of York and Oxford, and, thanks to contact made by Dr. Betsee Parker, professors from the Dept. of Celtic Studies at Harvard are visiting Inveraray in early November 2019); recruiting and managing volunteers who do such invaluable work cataloguing the archives; developing the Friends of the Argyll Papers as both funders and friends of the archive; supporting community archives and heritage centres in Argyll with expertise as and when appropriate. Specific projects include the Dewar Project, managed by Ronnie Black and for which a separate report is attached and:
The Written in the Landscape Project
This project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust, liveArgyll, Argyll Estates, CCEF, An Iodhlann, Tiree Development Fund, Inveraray Conservation and Regeneration Scheme, ends on 31 October 2019. I am currently engaged in writing up the evaluation of the project, which included:
- Cataloguing of 63 small collections of private archives held in liveArgyll archives (the local authority archives at Lochgilphead)
- Establishing the Argyll Papers catalogue online (argyll-papers.com) and starting to enter details of the collections (Publicly available are parts of the Argyll Papers, Campbell of Stonefield and Campbell of Glendaruel)
- Conservation of 373 maps and plans from the Argyll Papers, and training a team of volunteers to clean and repackage the remaining maps and plans in the collection, which team has cleaned and repackaged approx. 150 plans so far.
- Delivery of training in archival skills, copyright and palaeography to community partners.
- A series of ‘local history’ workshops, explaining and promoting the content of the archives at Lochgilphead and Inveraray.
- Exhibitions promoting records from the collections at Inveraray and Lochgilphead: Mermaids and Muggles (Campbeltown, 2018) and Inveraray, the old Town and the new (Inveraray Castle, 2019)
- An ‘archives roadshow’ to Tiree, May 2019, including displays of documents, workshops, talks and exhibitions.
- Provision of digital copies of selected documents to community partners: An Iodhlann, Tiree; Rockfield Centre, Oban; Here We Are, Cairndow; Lismore Heritage Centre; and to Ross of Mull (for transcription)
- Recruiting volunteers for ongoing remote transcription projects for documents in the Argyll Papers.
The Heritable Jurisdictions of Argyll Project
The Heritable Jurisdictions in Argyll 1707-1730 project is conserving and making available a unique source of evidence of the local administration of early 18th century justice in Scotland. Two unique, fragile and damaged early 18th century court books held in the Argyll Papers, Inveraray Castle have been cleaned and conserved thanks to funding from the Marc Fitch Fund, the Royal Celtic Society and the Friends of the Argyll Papers, and digitized to create preservation copies and to enable the contents of both volumes to be transcribed. Scholarly editions of the transcriptions, annotated and with an academic introduction, will be prepared by Professor Allan Macinnes and (we hope) published by the Scottish History Society, providing a rich source of evidence of local justiciarship in action in early 18th century Scotland.
Few equivalent court books have survived, and those that are available relate almost entirely to the Lowlands. The Heritable Jurisdictions in Argyll 1707-1730 project will therefore provide a unique source for the study of judicial management of the period and the opportunity to compare and contrast the process in the Highlands and the Lowlands.
Transcription of both court books is being undertaken by a small team of volunteers.
Future Projects
- The Red Tape Project
Many of the volumes in the archives have been ‘repaired’ in the past by red gaffer tape. This tape is inappropriate for archival repairs and is also gradually drying out and failing to hold the volumes together. The tape needs to be removed from these volumes and their bindings repaired properly. Where volumes are badly damaged, with missing front or end boards, they will cost quite a lot to repair. Others which have just a small piece of tape to be removed will be much cheaper and easier to deal with. I will be setting up a process whereby those who wish to will be able to ‘sponsor’ the repair of a volume. Sponsors will be recognised in the catalogue entry for the volume and also with a ‘book plate’. The Friends of the Argyll Papers are currently sponsoring the repair of a pilot volume (see images below) which will cost £1,600 + vat and I will share photographs of ‘after’ when these are ready.
A volume being repaired as part of the Red Tape Project. This one is sponsored by the Friends of the Argyll Papers.
- Charter and seals project
Eighteen of the most fragile of the medieval and early modern charters in the Argyll Papers need to be conserved and provided with packaging to preserve the seals attached to them. These date from 1393 to 1569 and include charters by King Robert III, Robert Duke of Albany, King James I, King James III and Mary Queen of Scots. Requiring approximately 144 hours of conservation work, this project will cost in the region of £6,000. - Tiree stories project: Tìr Ìseal nan Òran
We received a very warm welcome from Tiree when we took our roadshow there in May 2019 and enthusiastic suggestions of what we might do next. The result is the Tiree stories project. We plan to identify between seven and ten stories from Tiree’s past and to present these stories as a public theatre performance involving local school children, adults and the work of local artists. Each of the stories will be associated with a specific place on Tiree, and with an historical record from An Iodhlann, Argyll Estates archive, or other local sources, such as a written document, drawing, photograph or other physical material such as stones, structures and landscape features. The chosen stories will range through history: they might include mythological stories as well as those based on historical evidence. The stories and evidence will be in both English and Gaelic.Preparation for the theatre performance will be undertaken by a number of local artists and groups. Each participant will be invited to spend time creating an artistic response to one, several, or all of the stories, and their associated historical records and places on Tiree. They will be free to choose which stories inspire them, and to work in their own way, individually or in collaboration.The performance element of the project will take place after the completion of the different artists’ work. This will be devised by a creative theatre practitioner in collaboration with the participating artists and Tiree Primary and High School over a two-week period. The school children and staff will learn drama skills and collaborate in creating dramatic presentations of the stories, combining the different artists’ work with live performance as appropriate for each story. In practice this may vary considerably from story to story.We will need to find the funding for this project – probably, although not confirmed, in the region of £25,000. We will be approaching trusts and charities and welcome suggestions of potential funders.
Thank you for all the support and interest that the archives receives from the Clan Campbell Society and from individual members. Please stay in touch and, if you are able to assist with any of the above projects or to introduce us to others who might be interested, I will be delighted to hear from you.
Alison Diamond BD (Hons), MA, RMARA, FRSA
Archivist, Argyll Estates, Cherry Park, Inveraray, Argyll,
PA32 8XE Mob. 07943 667673
From the Journal of the Clan Campbell Society (North America) Vol. 47 No. 1 Winter 2020 p. 6-7