Manuscript Collection
The small Manuscript Archive was built up for research purposes.
It comprises original manuscripts and copies of notable manuscripts from other institutions along with in-house material relating to the history and collections of the School of Scottish Studies.
There is a variety of material including verse, tales, descriptions of Scottish life and folklore, in Gaelic, Scots and English, along with song and music collections. Among collections initiated by the School are the Donald John MacDonald MSS containing Gaelic tales and tradition from South Uist and the Calum Maclean Notebooks, transcriptions of tales from Highland areas collected in the 1950s, now digitised as part of the Calum Maclean project. Donations and deposits include the Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray MSS, 19th century tales in Perthshire Gaelic, field notes from Joan and Tom Flett containing dance notation, the Eliza Ross MSS of Highland airs and the MacLagan MSS, around 9000 items of folklore collected over a century ago as part of a survey entitled Folklore of the West Highlands. As with the sound archive, all areas of Scotland are covered.
Listings of the material are held in the Archive. Please contact Archives Staff for more details. email: scottish.studies.archives@ed.ac.uk
Recent Publications
Tales from Highland Perthshire collected by Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray, Sylvia Robertson and Tony Dilworth (eds), Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, 2009.
The Elizabeth Ross Manuscript , Original Highland Airs Collected at Raasay in 1812, by Elizabeth Jane Ross. Peter Cooke, Morag MacLeod and Colm Ó Baoill (eds), 2011.
