Library & Academic Computing Committee
College of Humanities & Social Science
12 June 2015
Paper 5
Disclosable
For Approval
Collection Policy
School of Scottish Studies Archives
Celtic and Scottish Studies
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
www.celtscot.ed.ac.uk/archives
Foundation of the School of Scottish Studies
The School of Scottish Studies was established in 1951 at the University of Edinburgh with a broad
remit including the collection of oral traditions and the establishing and development of archives and
a library where the material would be readily accessible. In its early years, the School reported directly
to the University Court. It was later integrated into the Faculty of Arts and took on a teaching remit.
Following re-structuring of the University in the early 2000s, teaching and archival streams separated
and the School of Scottish Studies Archives are now located in Celtic and Scottish Studies as part of
the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Purpose
The School of Scottish Studies Archives aims to be a centre of excellence in the ongoing collection,
preservation and dissemination of sound recordings, visual images and written documents relating to
the cultural traditions of communities in Scotland, past, present and future. As an integrated, dynamic
and accessible resource, the Archives aim to foster and support teaching, research and creative and
cultural enrichment activities within the University and, more widely, at local, national and
international levels.
The School of Scottish Studies Archives supports the University’s stated mission: the ‘creation,
dissemination and curation of knowledge’. We collect, preserve, enable access to and publish material
relating to the cultural life, folklore, traditional arts and Intangible Cultural Heritage1 of Scotland. We
preserve the collections by housing material in appropriate environmental conditions and creating
digital surrogates where possible. Access and use is assisted through the creation of appropriate
finding aids. As an active fieldwork and research archive much of the material is still in copyright and
we are committed to safeguarding the rights of individual contributors and collectors and adhering to
relevant legislation. Archive-led advocacy, outreach activities and publications collectively serve to
contextualise the material and generate public awareness of the resources. The collections held in the
School of Scottish Studies Archives, documenting the lives of the people of Scotland, are a unique
resource of national and international significance.
1
The UNESCO definition of ICH includes ‘traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and
passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events,
knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce
traditional crafts’.
Scope of the Collections
The School of Scottish Studies Archives specialises in audio and video recordings, visual and
photographic images, and manuscripts, papers and documents relating to the cultural life, oral
traditions, folklore and traditional arts of Scotland. This includes:
 oral history
 oral narrative, stories and tales
 traditional/folk music and song
 verbal arts and expression – verse, rhymes, riddles, sayings, proverbs, invocations
 place-names and contextual information
 Scots and Gaelic linguistic and dialect material
 traditional knowledge, custom and belief
 traditional games, dance and performance
 land, settlement and the cultural landscape
 material culture, crafts and the built environment
 transport and communications
 domestic life and economy
 working lives and practices
 folk revivals and contemporary cultural heritage
 contemporary ethnological fieldwork
The collections refer primarily to the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Material comes mainly from rural
and urban communities in Scotland and its diaspora, in the languages of Gaelic, Scots and English. The
traditions of people migrating into Scotland and comparative ethnographic material from other
countries are also held. Contextual printed sources, reference works, periodicals and other
publications are held in the Scottish Studies research library, built up alongside the collections.
Process of Collecting: Acquisitions and Disposals
The collections continue to grow through the addition of ethnological fieldwork and related materials
from students and staff at the University of Edinburgh. Donations are also accepted from individuals
or organisations outwith the University provided they are of relevance in terms of format and subject
matter (as described above in Scope of the Collections).
Outright donations or gifts are preferred, deposits on loan are not normally accepted. Items for
donation should generally have a clear and valid title of ownership. All rights in the item/collection,
including intellectual property rights, should be transferred to the School of Scottish Studies Archives,
University of Edinburgh at the time of acquisition. Associated information or finding aids detailing the
provenance and content of the item/collection are required where possible.
The acceptance of donations/deposits is at the discretion of the Archives Curator who may consult
the School of Scottish Studies Archives Committee. Donors may be referred to other archives and
organisations when appropriate, including the Centre for Research Collections, University of
Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, National Records of Scotland, National Museums of Scotland.
Once accepted, donations will generally be subject to the same conditions of preservation and
access as the Archives’ own fieldwork collections. The Archives Curator shall have the authority to
transfer records to a more suitable repository if it is considered that they will benefit from re-location,
or to dispose of material where this is considered appropriate.
This policy is in line with the University Collections Management Policy and will be reviewed in 2017.
School of Scottish Studies Archives
Celtic and Scottish Studies
February, 2015