North Edinburgh Social History Group’s research archive is now available on-line. The group amassed a wealth of material whilst undertaking research for their ‘Never Give Up’ book, published last year, and the documents and photographs can now be found on-line following a collaborative project with lifelong learning agency Scran.
Scran, part of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, enables online access to resources from museums, galleries, archives and the media, supporting learning and teaching at all ages.
Scran’s Helen Foster worked with the local Social History Group to make their extensive resources available to a wider audience, and the online exhibition was launched last Saturday at North Edinburgh Arts Centre.
Social History Group member Roberta Blaikie explained: ‘It took us two years to produce ‘Never Give Up’ – the book, DVD and photo exhibition – and we realised it was important that all this research was saved for future generations and made available for others to access easily. We are all rubbish with computers, but thankfully we met up with Helen at Scran. We did a lot of talking, Helen listened and did all the hard work and now we’ve been able to get everything digitized!”
Brian Robertson, another enthusiastic group member, added: ‘We’re delighted that this material is now available on-line. Some of the pictures in the book are quite small and we had to leave some things out because of the limited space available, so it’s great that all the information we gathered over such a long time is now available on the internet for everyone interested in our area’s history’.
The collection was launched before Saturday’s performances of ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ and was accompanied by a new protest song penned and performed by group member Ian Moore.
Access to Scran’s archive is available through Edinburgh City Libraries – go to http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/capital-collections. You’ll find North Edinburgh Social History Group’s archives under Local and Family History.