Heriot-Watt University Archive

17/12/2024

For day 16 of we have , which as every collection professional knows is a big no no in a store. Once little elf had the box of matches confiscated he found this photograph of Christmas celebrations around the fire. This was taken at Larchgrove House in Balerno during the First World War when it was in use as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers.

17/12/2024

17/12/2024

We’ve made it to the week before Christmas and it’s time to think hard about those for today’s . The little elf thinks this hat by .knitwear is his choice- I wonder who it’s for? The founder of this company, Rosemary Eribe, is a graduate of the Scottish College of Textiles, now Heriot-Watt University. Our textile collection holds work by many of our graduates.

12/12/2024

Day 12! We’re half way through our and today is . Little elf is hanging out in a festive deep pink knee length 1860s coat by Munrospun, an Edinburgh based company that made knitwear and clothes. The company closed in the 1980s and the coat has a matching dress.

11/12/2024

Day 11 of is , tricky in our collection store. Little elf wonders why this creature is hiding out all winter 🤔 VORSCHT, aka Versatile Original Resident Smoothly Carefully Handles Things, was a student mechanical engineering project creating a robot with moving arms, now hanging out in the store.

10/12/2024

Today's is and little elf seems to be finally getting the hang of this.

05/12/2024

A In an archive store! Must be nearly Christmas! Not if only little elf would stop swinging from the boxes…

03/12/2024

Little elf is after a but there are slim pickings in the store. Not sure this pharmacy jar had poison but I still think I’ll give it a miss.

03/12/2024

For today’s the theme is . Elf is trying hard to be good but I’m a little worried about this bell jar from our pharmacy collection!

25/11/2024

Fashion designers W & O Marcus left Germany in 1933 to escape persecution. When Blitz began during WWII they moved their manufacturing workshop from London to Hawick in the Scottish Borders. This design from 1951 is one of over 1000 in Heriot-Watt University's collection of textiles.

22/11/2024

In 1869 Campaigner Mary Burton persuaded the Edinburgh Watt Institution and School of Arts to admit women and became the first women on the Board of Directors.

22/11/2024

A reminder that the Scottish Council on Archives annual lecture by Professor Robert Bartlett is at 5pm on 3rd December at the National Library of Scotland, and is now free.

To what extent does our knowledge of the past rely upon written sources? And what happens when these sources are destroyed? Focusing on the manuscripts of the Middle Ages, Professor Robert Bartlett’s new book, History in Flames explores cases in which large volumes of written material were destroy...

14/11/2024

Museum and Archive staff will be giving a guided talk on 20th November at 1.30pm in the James Watt Centre on the 50th Anniversary of the move to Riccarton.

For further details contact [email protected]

29/10/2024

The Scottish Council on Archives annual lecture History in Flames by Professor Robert Bartlett is held on 3 December at 5pm in the National library of Scotland.

To what extent does our knowledge of the past rely upon written sources? And what happens when these sources are destroyed? Focusing on the manuscripts of the Middle Ages, Professor Robert Bartlett’s new book, History in Flames explores cases in which large volumes of written material were destroy...

30/08/2024

Designer Marion Dorn died 60 years ago in Tangiers. Born in San Fransisco, she moved to Britain in the 1920s and became one of the most prolific freelance designers of the 1930s producing designs for Donald Brothers, Warners and Old Bleach Linen as well as a rug for the White House. This 1939 design for Donald Brothers is called Delamere.

29/08/2024

This 1947 design "Migration" by Donald Brothers shows birds migrating - but also ocean liners reflecting the post war migration of Britons to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Given the time it took to travel by sea this was quite a journey.

26/08/2024

The replica sundial top has now been installed. The conserved slate original was scanned and the details digitally etched onto brass. The exhibition on Robert Palmer who designed and made the sundial will run until next May and is open in the museum in the Cameron Smail library on Wednesdays 2-4pm or by appointment.

26/08/2024

Its . This image show three dogs - Fly, Midge and Jock - from the Happy Family menagerie of performing circus animals owned by Mr Wyllie of Juniper Green, Edinburgh. The boy is Tommy Nisbet.