Archives and Manuscript Catalogue

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Warren Hastings Anderson entered the merchant house of his uncle, Robert Anderson and Company, St. Andrew's Square, Edinburgh, in 1813, becoming a partner in 1818. From then until the 1850s he spent most of his life in Italy and France engaged in trade, finally retiring to Bowerhouse near Dunbar. Family, personal and legal material predominates in this collection.

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There are letters and papers of Mary Haldane’s sisters Jane and Elizabeth, and her brother Sir John Burdon-Sanderson, Baronet, and his wife, Ghetal, née Herschell. There are also a few letters and papers of Mrs Haldane's daughter Elizabeth S Haldane, and collections of press-cuttings relating to her son Richard, Viscount Haldane.

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The bulk of the papers in this collection relate to the Canadian National Arctic Expedition, 1913-1918, and the part played in it by William McKinlay and the expedition leader, Vilhjalmur Stefansson. McKinlay's account of his experiences, especially those of being shipwrecked and marooned on Wrangel Island, off the coast of Siberia, were published by him in 'Karluk: the great untold story of Arctic expedition'.

Scope and Contents Tom Weir is probably best known for his long-running STV series ‘Weir’s Way’. He was born in Glasgow and served in the Royal Artillery during World War II. He worked as a surveyor for the Ordnance Survey before embarking on the career that was to make him a household name. Tom Weir is also notable as a mountaineer. He was a member of the first post-war Himalayan expedition and a number of important exploratory expeditions in Nepal in the early 1950s. He became a...

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Elizabeth Cowburn departs from London, travelling through Scotland by train, steamer and carriage. Places visited include Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dunkeld, Blair Atholl, Inverness, Stirling and Iona. The journal includes pencil sketchess and pasted in printed illustrations.

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The author was one of a party who made a tour of inspection of Gottland in connection with a scheme, promoted by Robert Chambers, the publisher, to settle British farmers there. Their report was entirely adverse. The volume includes a printed prospectus of the scheme, relevant newspaper articles, and correspondence with Chambers, 1850, and is illustrated with several water-colour sketches.

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Miss Black is interested in the scenery, local customs and the flora of Switzerland (she includes a number of pressed flowers in her journal). However, her main interest lies in recording the routine activities of herself and her companions.

At the back there are a number of newspaper cuttings, (folios 75-82) chiefly obituaries of her grandfather the Reverend Edward Black (died 1845) and of her father the Reverend William McMillan Black (died 1901).

Scope and Contents This journal was written by a Swiss female teacher on an extended visit to Scotland and Ireland during the First World War. There are descriptions of time spent in Edinburgh, particularly Greyfriars Church, Caroline Park and Granton, also visits to Rosslyn Chapel, Perth, and Craigo House near Montrose. While in Montrose she worked in a factory manufacturing hospital supplies. There is a detailed account of the events of Armistice Day, 1918. At the back are a number of recipes for cakes and...

Scope and Contents Comprising:1. Eastern journal, 1838-1839, of Roberts, in two volumes ("Egypt" and "Syria"), in the hand of his daughter, Christine Bicknell2. "The Roberts Festival", 1842, album containing press cuttings, reports and correspondence with or concerning Roberts3. Family correspondence, 1836-1863, of Roberts, including 60 letters to Christine and Henry Bicknell4. Draft essay, 1851, on the Royal Academy of Arts, and a page of notes, 1862, on...

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Literary and personal papers, c. 1966-2013, of Jo Clifford, comprising mainly playscripts, notebooks and journals. With some earlier family papers including: two travel journals by an unidentified family member, to North Carolina in 1828 and a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1829; First World War letters of Bertram Clifford, grandfather of Jo Clifford.

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Born in Aberdeenshire, Charles Murray went to South Africa in 1888, where he rose to be Deputy-Inspector of Mines for the Transvaal (1901) and Secretary for Public Works in the Union of South Africa (1910). He never lost touch with Scotland, and many of his poems are in the dialect of the north east.

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William Wilson, who was dispossessed at the Disruption in 1843, became Moderator of the Free Church in 1866, and moved to Edinburgh in 1877.

Scope and Contents Papers relating to the life and work of the novelist, poet and writer Naomi Mitchison. Includes personal correspondence, diaries, manuscripts, press cuttings, family papers and photographs.Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison, née Haldane, was born in Edinburgh in 1897. She was the youngest child of Louisa Kathleen Haldane, née Trotter, and John Scott Haldane (1860-1936). Her elder brother was the biologist J. B. S. 'Jack' Haldane (1892–1964).Naomi attended the Dragon School...

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With another volume of cuttings "Continental Articles" from the Edinburgh Evening Courant, published under the name of "An Occassional Correspondent".