Scotland's Written Legacy Online Now!
Added: (Mon Jun 02 2003)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
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Scottish Archive Network
Release Date: 04/06/03
PRESS RELEASE
Scotland’s Written Legacy Online Now!
A valuable digital resource, of relevance to genealogists, family historians and academic researchers worldwide, will be launched on 4 June 2003. http://www.scottishdocuments.com is set to provide online access to the digital images of over 3 million unique historical documents – Scottish wills and testaments - providing a fascinating insight into 400 years of Scottish life from 1500 to 1901.
This website has been developed as part of a £4 million project designed to throw open the doors on Scotland’s written heritage and will significantly improve access to a wealth of historical information. This, the largest mass archival digitisation project in the world, has been made possible through a powerful partnership struck between the Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) and the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU). The project’s phenomenal capacity to produce over 20,000 colour digital images per week has been achieved by harnessing the potential of the GSU’s cutting edge, digital imaging technology, originally developed at Brigham Young University in Utah, USA.
The project, which has received significant financial backing from both the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), will populate the Scottish Documents website with over 3 million, full colour, electronic digital images of all the wills of Scots, at home and abroad, registered from 1500 to 1901. Visitors to the site can search free of charge for surnames, forenames, occupations and places through a database of more than half a million entries. Then they can buy authentic, high quality digital images of their chosen Wills and Testaments for only £5.00 per document.
Hazel Anderson, Team Leader of the Scottish Wills Project says, “It’s not just a great resource for finding Scottish ancestors, but also for all sorts of other information about the Scots, such as their most common surnames and how people earned their living over the centuries. For example, a search for all the advocates whose wills were registered in Edinburgh between 1800 and 1850 brings up more than 100 entries, while, at the other end of the social scale, a search for the will of servants reveals over 70 entries for the same period”.
A database, which matches old spellings of Scottish surnames with their modern variants and examples of Scottish handwriting from 1500 onwards with hints on how to read it are just some of the useful features built into the website to assist people in their online search. As an added bonus the wills of many famous Scots, such as Robert Burns, Rob Roy MacGregor, Thomas Telford, Sir Henry Raeburn and many others can be viewed on the website free of charge.
The images are being made available via the website as part of a rolling programme due for completion at the end of this year. Images of all wills registered from 1823-1875 are now available and can be purchased immediately, together with 85% of all wills registered before 1823. By visiting the site to register for updates, users can elect to be sent information on the availability of wills as they come online.
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Stuart Low, Scottish Archive Network Ltd,Thomas Thomson House,99 Bankhead Crossway North, Edinburgh EH11 4DX, Scotland, UK
Tel: 0131 242 5800, Fax: 0131 270 3317, Email: stuart.low@scan.org.uk Website: http://www.scan.org.uk and http://www.scottishdocuments.com #####