Historical research is new territory to some of our volunteers, and not everyone on the team was readily aware of all the tools that are available to support their efforts. We therefore decided to arrange a visit to the county archive at Haddington’s John Gray Centre. There, archivist Frances Woodrow showed us their oldest document – the town’s charter from King Robert I – as well as the burgh minutes from the time of the 1745 Rising, and a photograph album full of memories from the 250th anniversary event in 1995. A visit to the map store was a particular treat, giving a chance to see Armstrong’s 1773 map of Edinburgh and the Lothians: not only is the battlefield labelled, but the Thorntree was clearly already famous enough to be named and illustrated!
As well as visiting the archive, our team visited the Local & Family History Centre. There Hanita Ritchie provided another warm welcome, and a very helpful presentation introducing the centre’s work, the nature and variety of its resources and services, and the information held which might be relevant to our project. In addition, Hanita walked us through the museum and library services’ website, explaining how to maximise access to the collections and prepare for future research visits.
The visit was not only enjoyable but enlightening, and even in the short time we spent in the centre after the tours were over we managed to discover some new information and leads to feed into the project! Our volunteers felt the visit had increased their confidence in identifying and using the tools available to them, both for our own project and for their own future interests.
We are grateful to Fran and Hanita for taking the time to allow us exclusive access to the facilities at the John Gray Centre, on a day when they would otherwise be closed.
