Recordings spanning 70 years and made by local people from across Perth and Kinross are to become available to the public for the first time thanks to funding from The National Archives.
The project, In Our Own Words, is made possible by a £39,895 grant awarded from Archives Revealed. Archives Revealed is a partnership programme between The National Archives, The Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation and is the only funding stream in the UK dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archives. The project also received additional funding of £2,000 from the Friends of Perth & Kinross Archive.
The Perth and Kinross Sound Collection, which is an archive of audio recordings and photographs relating to rural and cultural heritage, captures the memories and stories of the residents of Perth and Kinross.
Included in the collections are recordings that capture changing traditions in farming, fishing, forestry, vernacular building, home life and recreation throughout the twentieth century. Their reminiscences are also a rich resource for local place name history, and for Perthshire Gaelic and Scots language and dialect. The Collection also includes recordings of Perth Burns Club Supper recitals, reminiscences from Perth Theatre staff, actors and audiences spanning 70 years of Scotland’s oldest theatre, and a variety of other recordings relating to local people, organisations and events.
The project will enable an online catalogue of the Collection to be made online and available to audiences not only in Perth and Kinross, but also across the world.
A related programme of talks, storytelling sessions, family activities and oral history workshops will be delivered throughout 2022 to coincide with Scotland’s Year of Stories. School learning resources and reminiscence materials will also be created to share this treasure trove of local history with as many people as possible.
Helen Smout, Chief Executive, Culture Perth and Kinross, said: ‘Culture Perth and Kinross is delighted to have been awarded a grant to catalogue our Sound Collection. The Collection contains the stories of local people as told in their own words and, once catalogued, will add a new dimension to related material in our archive and museum collections, enriching understanding of our local heritage and the ways that people can engage with it. The subject matter will be of interest to a wide range of researchers, and the creation of schools and reminiscence materials will support learning and inter-generational activities that will bring people and communities together.’
Hannah Mackay, Project Archivist, added, ‘I am really looking forward to working with the Collection and discovering more about the stories and people within it. It is exciting to be delivering the project during Scotland’s Year of Stories and the opportunities this brings to share the Collection with people of all ages.’
The Archives Revealed funding programme focuses on transforming access to archives for a wide range of users, enabling more people to engage with the UK’s rich documentary heritage. Alongside Culture Perth and Kinross, seven other organisations received funding in the July 2021 round of cataloguing grants: Archives and Cornish Studies, University of Stirling Archives, London Metropolitan Archives, Manchester Art Gallery, Yorkshire Film Archives, University of Liverpool, and Acme.
Dr Valerie Johnson, Director of Collections and Research at The National Archives, said:
“The phrase ‘cataloguing a collection’ only begins to hint at the immense impact that these projects will have for communities and researchers. By cataloguing archives, we can reveal hidden stories representing the lives of people across the UK and, most importantly, we can help people access these records for themselves for the very first time. We’re delighted to be working in partnership with The Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation to make these discoveries possible.”
Find out more about the Archives Revealed funding programme: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/finding-funding/archives-revealed/