To increase our knowledge of the archive resources
available in the Lothian area, of sites related to our collection, and to make links with others working in the
sector, LHSA staff visited Midlothian Council Archives on 16 May. This followed
on from visits to West Lothian Council Archives on 25 January and Craig House
(formerly part of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital) on 19 April. A visit to East
Lothian Council Archives is planned for later in the year.
Ken Bogle, Local Studies Officer and Zarya Rathe, Records
Officer, showed us around the Loanhead local
studies search room and archive storages areas behind it. The collections
include council records, parochial board records, school registers, burial
records, agricultural society records and electoral rolls covering locations
within the Midlothian Burgh and County Council boundaries. Ken explained that
volunteer groups have produced invaluable indexes of burial records and
gravestone inscriptions.
Laura, Stephen and Ken with some of the Midlothian Council Archives collection |
We were also
shown some of the fascinating special items such as the Black collection of
scrapbooks of local events from the early 20th century, an Offence
and Punishment book from the mid-19th century and the Dalkeith Incorporation
of Hamersmiths’ volume from the 18th century. These local records
are of relevance to our enquirers researching records of their ancestors who
were treated in hospitals in the Lothian area, but left records of their lives
in many different places. Patients from former asylums, such as Rosslynlee for which LHSA holds records, were often
buried in local cemeteries, so there is considerable crossover between the records
of Midlothian Council Archives and LHSA.
A number of Midlothian
Council Archives’ catalogues have been digitised and can be found online at: Midlothian Council Archives catalogue
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