Sources in Local History

A series of transcribed and edited manuscript sources.

Account books, diaries, journals, letters and other personal documents are a rich source of material for ethnologists, historians and others interested in studying everyday life. In 1994, the founder of the EERC, Professor Alexander Fenton, established the Sources in Local History series to promote their use more widely. Six volumes were subsequently published between 1994 and 1997.

The series was re-launched in 2015 as a free-to-access digital resource and forms part of the EERC’s Regional Ethnology of Scotland Project. Although it is primarily intended to showcase material that has been collected in the course of the Project, transcribed and edited sources from elsewhere in Scotland are also being included in the new series. Revised, electronic editions of some volumes from the original series are also being made available.

First Series

More Frost and Snow: The Diary of Janet Burnet, 1758-1795, ed. M Pearson, 1994.

At Brechin with Stirks: A Farm Cash Book from Buskhead, Glenesk, Angus, 1885-1898, ed. A Fenton, 1994.

A Salmon for the Schoolhouse: A Nairnshire Parish in the Nineteenth Century. From the Diaries of Robert and Elsie Thompson, ed. J Love and B McMullen, 1994.

The Diary of John Sturrock, Millwright, Dundee, 1864-65, ed. C Whatley, 1996.

The Diary of Patrick Fea of Stove, Orkney, 1766-96, ed. W S Hewison, 1996.

Sir William Burrell’s Northern Tour, 1758, ed. J G Dunbar, 1997.

For prices and availability, please contact: kenneth.veitch@ed.ac.uk

Second Series

The Minute Book of the Lochmaben Curling Club, 1823-1863, ed. L J Longmore, 2015.

The Chronicles of Muckledale, being the memoirs of Thomas Beattie of Muckledale, 1736-1827, ed. E J Cowan, 2016.

Sir William Burrell’s Northern Tour, 1758, ed. J G Dunbar, 2016.

A Letter from a Kirkcudbright Grocer, 1814, ed. P Didsbury, 2016.

The Pocket Books of a Dumfriesshire Drover, ed. W Waugh, 2017.

A Farm Cash Book from Buskhead, Glenesk, Angus, 1885-1898, ed. A Fenton, 2017.

The Journal of Robert Heron, 1789-1798, ed. E J Cowan, 2017.

The Diary of John Sturrock, Millwright, Dundee, 1864-1865, ed. C Whatley, 2018.

The volumes from the second series are available on the Regional Ethnology of Scotland Project website: www.regionalethnologyscotland.llc.ed.ac.uk

Contact Us

We should be glad to hear from anyone who would like to contribute to the series. Please contact: