Early photography in Edinburgh – the story told on film

August 9, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

A little while ago we blogged about the first film in our Early Photography film series. We’ve now published all three short films in the trilogy. Take 15 minutes to discover Edinburgh’s significant part in the history of photography.

Film 1 describes the birth of photography in Edinburgh and the first photographic club in the world alongside the pioneering and world-renowned duo, Hill and Adamson.

Film 2 describes how photography was used as a tool to record social change and with the upsurge in tourism to Scotland, a means to earn a living.

Film 3 gives an account of how photography became available to the masses due to the Victorian craze for studio portraiture and the camera’s now fundamental role in family memento.

All images used to tell the early history of photography are taken from our collections here at Central Library. And don’t forget you can find many more fantastic pictures from the past on Capital Collections, our online image library.

We hope you enjoy the show!

The story of Edinburgh Zoo

July 24, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

We’re delighted that our friends at Edinburgh Zoo have shared with us their fascinating history and made it available on Our Town Stories.
Discover why the zoo’s logo is a penguin and where escapee sea lions were found in 1924. Take a nostalgic look at the Children’s Farm and meet the many famous animal faces Edinburgh Zoo has looked after over the years. Look behind the scenes at the zoo’s state-of-the-art Wildgenes Laboratory where today scientists undertake genetic analysis in support of conservation projects.

There are also some rather special Then & Now images to find on the Our Town Stories map…

Edinburgh Zoo – 100 years in pictures

July 22, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

A new exhibition on Capital Collections marks 100 years since Edinburgh Zoo first opened its doors to the public.

From early archive pictures and a maps of the zoological gardens to captivating pictures of the giant pandas, you’ll be able to see how Edinburgh Zoo’s landscape, residents and approach has changed over the years. Images show the lions’ den being built c1914, visitors getting up close to an elephant, the original and rather grand Fellows’ Luncheon and Tea Room and the view in 1911 from the top of the Mansion House from the original zoological gardens proposal document. And of course there’s the famous penguin parade through the years.

And coming later this week, news of a special zoo centenary collaboration…

Summer reading recommendations

June 24, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

It’s not always easy to choose a book to read, especially if you’ve just finished everything by your favourite author. Help is at hand though in the form of the wonderfully simple and effective ‘Who Next…?’ Who Next…? does exactly what you’d expect. Simply login with your library card number and search by title or author and the resource will generate suggestions of books that are perfect for you! It’ll even give ideas for different reading ages.

It will also come in very handy this summer, if you’re looking to bump up the spine-chill factor for the Creepy House Summer Reading Challenge. You can search Who Next…? for ideas of books to read by genre including ghost & supernatural, horror, magic, mystery and vampires. Children, teenagers and their parents need look no further for the next favourite read. Then, of course, it’s just a couple of clicks to the library catalogue to reserve the book online.

The ‘Creepy House’ reading challenge is nearly here…

June 17, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

This year’s summer reading challenge is ‘Creepy House’. The usual rules apply: just head to your local library over the summer holidays and read 6 books to collect some special smelly stickers and to receive that all important finisher’s medal.

Don’t forget that ebooks and eaudiobooks from our Library2go service count towards your six books.

Keep an eye on our Creepy House calendar for listings of Edinburgh Libraries’ activities or ask at the library next time you’re in to find out what the summer has in store. You’ll find all you need to know about the Summer Reading Challenge for children, at the Reading Agency’s special Creepy House website.

Early photography in Edinburgh

June 6, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

Edinburgh Libraries have made 3 short films telling the story of Edinburgh’s major role in the development of photography. Here’s the first film in the series, entitled ‘Pioneering Artist Photographers’.

Visit Capital Collections to see many more images from our early photography collections including the online exhibitions:

Partnership of genius: early photographs of D O Hill and R Adamson and their contemporaries

An Hundred Pictures in Calotype by Hill & Adamson

John Muir Wood: Album of Calotypes

Animals in Art Nouveau

May 20, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

Our latest Capital Collections exhibition lets you browse through ‘L’animal dans la Decoration’. This volume is by French artist Maurice Pillard Verneuil and dates from 1897. One of the most influential works from the Art Nouveau movement, it shows how animal themes could be used to influence design and decoration. The perfect sourcebook for researching this distinctive and decorative period of art, generating ideas for fashion, furnishing and interior design, or just for creating some beautiful and inspirational posters for the classroom.

John Kay and the Scottish Enlightenment

May 6, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

We’ve another new story to look out for on Our Town Stories! John Kay’s story describes one of the most exciting times in our city’s history – the period known as the Scottish Enlightenment.

Kay just had to look out of his window onto Edinburgh’s High Street to observe some of the world’s leading thinkers in the fields of philosophy, medicine and politics going about their daily business. He could also observe some of these illustrious characters in the more intimate surroundings of his barber’s chair. His famous etchings are full of humour and satire and give us a remarkable record of the celebrities and intelligentsia of the time.

Read his story on Our Town Stories and discover what made this such a notable time in Scotland’s history.

Read Bessie’s story on Our Town Stories

April 30, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

Bessie Watson now appears in her very own story on Our Town Stories. The material from her ‘Life in a Box’ is handily brought together to tell how she started playing the bagpipes, joined the Women’s Social and Political Union and ended up playing her pipes in the 1909 Women’s Franchise Procession and Demonstration, proudly wearing the WSPU colours as the youngest suffragette.

Move the timeline on Our Town Stories to see other pictures of life in Edinburgh during the Edwardian period. Browse the list of historical maps and discover how Edinburgh’s townscape developed in the same period.

Bessie’s story on Our Town Stories is a great way to consolidate students’ exploration of the archival material in her Life in a Box in Whose Town?

Take a fresh look at Capital Collections

February 25, 2013 Ms Padgett Leave a comment

Our wonderful and ever-expanding online image library, Capital Collections has had a bit of a makeover recently.

You can now explore exhibitions far more easily and scroll through thumbnail galleries of images within the different exhibitions. Capital Collections is still the place to find accompanying exhibitions on all our Whose Town? lives and eras. Put ‘whose town’ into the quick search box and another new feature flags up the related exhibitions.

If you’re looking for images of Edinburgh, you can use a new map interface to easily identify pictures in particular streets and neighbourhoods.

There’s also a new timeline tool which gives you the option to jump to pictures taken during a particular period of history.

Although Capital Collections is particularly strong on images of Edinburgh, the image library contains fantastic pictures of Scotland and further afield. Explore the collections by subject or theme and you could discover a history of toys and games with images from Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood, or unique photographs documenting R.L. Stevenson’s Pacific travels, or our amazing collection of Japanese woodcut prints, or atmospheric paintings and engravings of Scottish landscapes dating from the 19th century.

What will you discover…?