National Records of Scotland

MONDAY, JULY 14th we visited the National Records of Scotland. I have to admit that my favorite part of the visit (aside from the amazing architecture and our wonderful guide) was hearing about the family history division, known as ScotlandsPeople (that's not a typo), and the brief mention of how the LDS Church has helped them. Little reminders of home always make me so happy! 

So, recently the NRS has become sort of an umbrella for a variety of records services offered by the Scottish government. The integration process is currently underway, but the divisions under this umbrella include:

General Register for Scotland

National Archives of Scotland

ScotlandsPeople

ScotlandsPlaces

Scottish Register of Tartans

and a few others...

Currently these divisions all have separate web presences, but one of the goals of the integration is to create a web presence that encompasses them all, as some information available at one location benefits from information at another. 

While Scotland is considered part of the UK, there are areas where they are separate - they have a separate legal system and parliament, as well as a separate education system. This means that the records created by these entities are separate as well and they need storage space. This was first recognized when Scotland began keeping vital records, such as marriages and census data in the 1840s and 1850s. Like other archives we've visited, the NRS is currently facing a space problem. Unlike other places we've visited, the NRS also has the power to weed superfluous records, but that doesn't solve the problem because of the amount of records accumulated annually. 

About one third of the records are stored at the General Register House (the site we visited), which opened in 1789 and another site known as the New Register House. The other two-thirds are housed at the Thomas Thomson House outside the city. Thomas Thomson is also home to an imaging suite that allows for the digitization of records. The suite was created in partnership with the LDS Church to facilitate family history research. 

It was cold and rainy the day we went, so I didn't get a good photo of the outside. The General Register House is the dome-topped building in the center. The buildings on either side are actually across the street. Photo found here.