Into the Archive: A busy year in the search room as social media helps triumph over coronavirus crisis
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As always, this year has been a busy one, with readers in the search room and events and talks and now we are looking ahead to 2022.
We’re excited to share with you the themes we have planned for our 2022 social media channels which will cover a wide range of material in our collections.
You can join us on all four of the centre’s social media pages to look at some of the material we share and to join in the conversation taking place around these subjects.
We have also been busy planning events, classes and talks for 2022.
Among these is an interview with Professor Dame Sue Black, world-renowned forensic anthropologist, on the impact of the 1832 Anatomy Act (which will premiere on March 8).
A talk will also take place with our own family historian Anne Fraser on the lives of Duncan Forbes and Lord Lovat (2022 sees the 275th anniversary of their deaths) and an online exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of the Education (Scotland) Act.
Members of the Highland Archive Service team attended the High Life Highland (HLH) Special Staff Awards, acknowledging the work undertaken across the charity since the coronavirus pandemic started in early 2020.
It was wonderful to hear about the amazing things done by both staff and volunteers – such as Inverness Botanic Gardens growing veg to donate to food banks, and HLH music tutors and leisure staff providing online lessons and classes to help educe social isolation and allow people to stay fit and develop skills.
Not to mention the many HLH staff who worked and volunteered to maintain contact with some of the most vulnerable in our society and those in our central teams whose tireless efforts enabled the charity to continue to function over the last 20 months.
Eighty-two commendations and seven awards were presented; the Highland Archive Service were very proud to receive both a team commendation and an individual award.
The commendation was to acknowledge the work undertaken by the Highland Archive Service staff to provide a continued service to the public alongside new initiatives such as the resource packs we distributed to Befrienders Highland and care homes across the Highlands.
The individual award for innovation was presented to our community engagement officer Lorna, for her series “Learn with Lorna”, developed to promote access to our collections while our buildings were closed; they are still going out live every Thursday at 11am on Facebook.
It was wonderful to take part and to have the work of both the archive service and the wider charity in the public eye!
n We will be running our Archives for Beginners classes again in the new year. A total of eight classes will run in two blocks of four on Friday mornings from January 21, 10am-non. These cost £40 (£32 concession) per block and will be delivered via Zoom. We would love to welcome you on to either set – or even both!
For more information and to book a place contact us via email at archives@highlifehighland.com
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