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Welcome to the new Statistical Accounts of Scotland blog
Welcome to the first post on the new Statistical Accounts of Scotland Blog. My name is Helen Aiton, and I am the User Support Manager for EDINA, based at the University of Edinburgh. I’m also a member...
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The Working Lives of Ordinary Scots
We know shockingly little of how ordinary Scottish people spent their working lives in the past. We know even less about the work women did. An intriguing comment by the minister of Rogart in the 1790s...
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‘The County Surveys 1793 – 1817: Exploring Considered Digitisation’
Those familiar with the Statistical Accounts of Scotland will be aware that they belong to a greater body of works initiated and supervised by Sir John Sinclair, forming the base of what he envisaged...
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Literacy, Religion and Popular Politics
The Statistical Account presents a fascinating picture of eighteenth-century Scotland. It gives a rich and often detailed view of the working lives of ordinary people, and was of particular importance...
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County Surveys Project Launches Online Bibliographic Tool
We are pleased to report that the County Surveys of Great Britain 1793 – 1817 project, which is related to the Statistical Accounts, has now released an online bibliographic search tool. This is a key...
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More of Sinclair’s Questions Discovered
The first blog about the Statistical Accounts of Scotland service described how in May 1790, Sir John Sinclair wrote to every Church of Scotland Minister in each of the 938 parishes in Scotland with a...
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Statistical Accounts at the Fringe: Back to the Statistical Future
As always, August in Edinburgh is abuzz with lots of exciting theatre and shows. We were delighted to have the opportunity to present our own show again this year, once more as part of the Beltane...
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Of Pibrochs and Preachers: Music and Folk Culture in the Old Statistical...
Perhaps particularly in a post-Christian society it is stereotypes we live with, rather than the nuanced reality of religion. Listening to the thoughts of ministers by reading the Old Statistical...
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(VIDEO) Back to the Statistical Future
A few weeks ago, we took the Statistical Accounts to the Edinburgh Fringe as part of the Beltane network’s Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas. Board member Helen Aiton and EDINA’s Nicola Osborne wrote and...
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Finding Deaf Lives in the Statistical Accounts of Scotland, 1791-1845
‘As recently as the 1970s, deaf history did not exist,’ writes John Vickery Van Cleve (Deaf History Unveiled, 2002), pointing out how, until recently, the history of deaf people and their lives had...
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Statistical Accounts Online Service Redevelopment
Christmas tree, from ‘Rutherfurd’s Southern Counties Register… being a supplement to the almanacs; containing […] much useful information connected with the counties of Roxburgh, Berwick and Selkirk’...
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Lasswade: a green retreat from Edinburgh
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the Lothian Family History Society, who meet just outside Edinburgh in the Lasswade Centre. It was a lovely opportunity to meet some of the people who have...
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When is a hill a hill? Mapping, “occular inspection” and the problem of...
In October 1795, Sir John Sinclair asked Rev. Robert Douglas of Galashiels to “assist the Board of Agriculture” by updating and republishing the County Surveys of Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire....
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Halloween: Sports and Spooks in the Statistical Accounts
Halloween is approaching and the nights are drawing in. So this is the perfect time to discover some spooky stories and supernatural superstitions reported in the Statistical Accounts of Scotland....
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Wicked Witches
In our last post we revealed some of the Halloween customs detailed in the Statistical Accounts, including some spooky ghost stories. Although superstitious beliefs seem to have been receding during...
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Welcome to the new and improved Statistical Accounts of Scotland online!
As you may have already noticed, the Statistical Accounts of Scotland service now has a new look as well as new and improved features. We hope you have been exploring them since the new service was...
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The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online – Images and Words
This is the second in a series of blog posts about some of the functionality you may have come across (or may not have yet discovered!) in the new Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online. Here we...
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The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online – My statacc
This is the last in a series of blog posts about some of the functionality you may have come across (or may not have yet discovered!) in the new Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online. Here we...
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Family history and the Statistical Accounts
We’re always interested to hear how you use the Statistical Accounts. Family historians are one of the key groups who make use of our service so we were delighted to see Jane Harris recently publish a...
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Influence of Scotland on the World: Emigration
The ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Statistical Accounts of Scotland are a record of what life was like in the parishes throughout Scotland, but reading through them you can see that it is not a country in isolation....
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