Shock news – if Scotland is dragged out of the European Union, it could take the best line from the EU anthem with it. Friedrich Schiller changed two lines in his original Ode to Joy poem published in 1785. One… Read More ›
digital history
Life saving archives
We don’t hear much about the capacity of archives to prolong or even save life. Left gathering decades of dust, we tend to think of them as a health hazard rather than their potential for improving health and wellbeing. A… Read More ›
The benefits of frontier-free science
It’s hard to pin down what we actually lose if the free movement of people and ideas diminishes or dies. Scotland’s historic close links with Europe help explain its overwhelming vote to stay in the EU. Free exchange in the… Read More ›
Viva Aviva Archiva
The history of insurance may seem an ideal cure for insomnia – but not in the hands of enterprising archivists. Aviva has recently launched its new archive website and it’s a real treat – a very good example of what… Read More ›
Nurses and TB in 1950
What was it like to start out as a nurse in 1950? All tickety boo, according to this short film (9 mins) from the NLS Moving Image Archive. Click on the image to see it. It’s a public information/propaganda film… Read More ›
Sniffers of the stench of corruption….
Three examples from the golden age of political caricature featuring Henry Dundas, the first Viscount Melville…. This one satirises the five-strong Commission of Naval Enquiry quizzing Dundas and the Navy paymaster Alexander Trotter (the guys in kilts). The Commission’s dogged… Read More ›
Venice – the first British Embassy?
A longer version of this with a focus on religious issues in Venice appeared in the August edition of Life and Work magazine: Venice November 2018: Great to see Henry Wotton still has oversight of the Foreign Office – his… Read More ›
Motorcycling nurses
Meet district nurse Elizabeth McPhee with her rather splendid BSA motorcycle in 1926. She is the headline image in a stunning online collection at the US National Library of Medicine. The exhibition, curated by Julia Hallam, of Liverpool University, who talks… Read More ›
Whiz-bangs on the web – digital history and WW1
What did you do in the Great Centenary, Daddy/Mummy? It is already the UK’s most expensive commemoration in history thanks to £50 million of Government funding. War was actually declared in August but the centenary started much earlier: broadcast and publishing… Read More ›
The first hams for heroes
Unlikely as it sounds, the Longniddry Piggery provided Britain’s first purpose-built homes for heroes. The idea came from a group of concerned individuals early in 1915 who set up the Scottish Veterans’ Garden City Association. They drew inspiration from Letchworth… Read More ›
The History Company 