Scranalogue

Culture Heritage Learning

Out & About with Scran

August 31, 2015 by Scran | 2 Comments

Are you planning to visit a local historic property? If so, you may be interested to know that we have a whole host of new Pathfinders on Scran, investigating Historic Scotland properties.  They are bursting with fabulous maps, photographs, film footage, reconstruction drawings, aerial views as well as information for teachers, attached in PDF format.imgzoom-image-0757-07570012

From Arbroath to Urquhart, many of these informative guides are also available in Gaelic, for use in the classroom or on site during a school visit.

So, if you are studying a particular castle, abbey or historic site in Scotland, these resources are a must.

Image © National Library of Scotland, Plan of St Andrews, c. 1580. Licensor www.scran.ac.uk

The Ian Landles Archive

August 26, 2015 by User deactivated | 1 Comment

A fascinating insight into the lives of Scottish Borders folk in the last century comes to Scran.

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This series of interviews and sound recordings collected by local historian, retired teacher and author, Ian Landles, between the 1960s and 2010 was originally started in order to preserve the memories of local men who had fought in World War One and is a great complement to existing material on Scran about the conflict. However, the archive also offers a rich seam of oral testimonies from local women as well as men and covers themes including the Hawick Common Riding, poetry and music, farming life and mill life and the original Border railways. Many of the interviewees speak in the local dialect of Border Scots known as ‘Teri Talk’ which gives the recordings great linguistic significance.

The collection of 150 tapes was donated to the Scottish Borders Council Archives at the Heritage Hub in Hawick by Ian Landles in 2014. Digitisation of the interviews was carried out by Tobar an Dualchais with financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Ian Landles Collection is also being made available through Scran in the form of segmented interviews with full summaries. Some transcripts are also available. Interviewees who talk about their life in the Scottish Borders include:

There will be regular new uploads to the site from the collection so do keep your eye out. We’ll keep you posted from our end.

Image © Scottish Motor Museum Trust, Alvis 1920s. Licensor www.scran.ac.uk

Kite Aerial Photography

August 25, 2015 by Scran | 3 Comments

Recently we’ve been getting to grips with the kite aerial photography kits provided by Dr. John Wells of the Scottish National Aerial Photography Scheme (SNAPS). As you can see we visited Tantallon Castle for a practice flight. We were quite pleased with our results & the potential for learning.

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We are planning on piloting this activity with schools over 2015/16, so if you are interested please contact us & lets’s go fly a kite! 

We believe exploring the aerial photography collections on Scran, in combination with the active learning involved in kite aerial photography, could lead to all sorts of creative learning.

For example, studying aerial photography can support the following Curriculum for Excellence experiences & outcomes within Social Studies.

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  • describe the major characteristic features of Scotland’s landscape and explain how these were formed (SOC 2-07a)
  • discuss the environmental impact of human activity (SOC 2-08a)
  • explain how the physical environment influences the ways in which people use land by comparing the local area with a contrasting area (SOC 2-13a)
  • use knowledge of a historical period to interpret the evidence and present an informed view (SOC 3-01a)
  • compare settlement and economic activity in two contrasting landscapes (SOC 3-13a)
  • explain the impact of processes which form and shape landscapes on selected landscapes in Scotland, Europe and beyond (SOC 3-07a)
  • evaluate the changes which have taken place in an industry and debate their impact (SOC 4-05b)
  • discuss the sustainability of key natural resources (SOC 4-08a)

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    Salisbury Crags Holyrood Park

  • assess the impact of developments in transport infrastructure in a selected area (SOC 4-09b)
  • describe and assess the impact of human activity on an area (SOC 4-10a)
  • explain the development of the main features of an urban area and evaluate the implications for the society involved (SOC 4-10b)

Up Close and Personal with The Scotsman Collections

August 23, 2015 by User deactivated | 0 comments

Skills for the Future (SftF) trainees, join Scran to gain experience working with an exciting digital collection – The Scotsman collection.

Scran currently hosts over 66,000 images from The Scotsman newspaper’s extensive archive. These were digitised from glass plate negative back in 1999 in preparation for the newspaper’s move from their iconic old headquarters on North Bridge to new premises at Holyrood Road in Edinburgh. The collection is an incredibly rich social-historical resource, documenting life in Edinburgh and its environs from the 1930s to the 1980s. However, very little contextual information was recorded and stored alongside the original negatives and captions that appear on Scran have been created over time from a range of historical sources.

SftF trainees, who joined Scran this summer for a placement, were tasked with carrying out some of this vital research on themed batches of Scotsman images, enhancing and editing existing caption information and metadata in an effort to make each record more findable on the Scran website.

FullSizeRender (10)Their placement also involved a visit to see the original glass plates housed at the Scottish Life Archive at the National Museums Scotland stores in Granton. Senior Curator, Dorothy Kidd, gave a guided tour and allowed the trainees to get up close and view the Scotsman glass plates for themselves.

The SftF/Scran experience culminates in a digital exhibition, curated by the trainees, to showcase the Scotsman collections on Scran. The exhibition opens next month at the RCAHMS Search Room, Bernard Terrace, Edinburgh.

Find about more about the Skills for the Future trainees and their placement with Scran on their blog.

Welcome

August 21, 2015 by Scran | 0 comments

Hot off the press, the Scranalogue has arrived. We are delighted to share what’s happening at Scran via our brand new blog. Keep up to date with new content arriving in our many collections, for example we’ve some great new oral histories about Falkirk during World War One.

See what we’re up to in the field trialling Kite Aerial Photography thanks to Scottish National Aerial Photography Scheme, SNAPS

Meet us in person, we’ll be busy exhibiting and supporting events throughout autumn 2015, starting with the Scottish Learning Festival quickly followed by Doors Open Day in Edinburgh.

Image © Scottish Maritime Museum. Wireless News from SS Athenia, 1933. Licensor www.scran.ac.uk

Winners

July 27, 2015 by Scran | 0 comments

jackies2_3689_25471_005-000-012-729-R_2015-04-21_11-01-31Our photography competition attracted a lot of entries, and the judges deliberated long and hard over the outcome. The theme was What Scotland Means to Me, and we received a variety of interpretations, from images of Munros and monuments to the odd bottle of Irn Bru.

The overall winner, was Rona Stewart’s picture of three rams looking through a fence. The judges said “Rona’s photo is a fantastic composition. It’s sharp, beautifully-framed and captures her Highland heritage.kingussieRona won an iPad for herself and 10 iPads for Kingussie High School, where she is currently studying. She was presented with her prize at an assembly on a sunny morning in Kingussie. She is pictured here with Head of Art & Design, David Douglas, and Andrew James of Scran.

We also travelled to Dunbarney Primary School near Perth to present Angus Johnston with his prize. Judges commented on his picture, of two boys jumping into Portsoy harbour, jackies2_3689_25469_005-000-012-728-R_2015-04-21_10-52-38

“…it captures a picture of enjoyment and also it is filled with light just waiting for a photographer to come along and capture the inspiring photo.” Angus is pictured receiving  his prize from Jackie Sangster.winner

 

Isobel Mair School for children with additional support needs was the winner in its category. The winning image, of a path leading through a Scottish forest, was selected by the judges for its sense of “calmness” and a feeling that “you could really be there in the photograph.” The picture was a joint effort, taken by pupils from the school’s Tiree class, and the class was presented with their prizes by Neil Fraser.

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photo2Images © Rona Stewart, Angus Johnston & Isobel Mair School. Licensor www.scran.ac.uk

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