The SLHF spring conference, 'Sun, Sea and Shivering - Scots at the Seaside 1750-2000 is coming up on Friday April 26th at Kinghorn in Fife.

We are affiliated to SLHF and we encourage members and others to attend.

There is an intriguing list of speakers - incuding our own Alastair Durie - and if promises to be 'a good day'.

Download the flyer and booking form here.

Dr Thomas Lucas was an early nineteenth century Stirling doctor whose diary between 1810 and 1820 has survived.
Extracts were published in the Stirling Antiquary  a little over a century ago. But there was a lot unpublished and it was not always easy to find what you wanted in the published version - even if you had a copy to hand!

Now Stirling Council Archives have started to publish the diary for 1813 online as a blog. They intend, eventually, to put the whole thing online so it will be searchable and freely available.

Lucas notes all sorts of things, from the weather to food prices, from international affairs to local 'news' items [we recently used his entry about the first steam ships in Stirling on our own blog!].

The story of this exciting new publication has also made the BBC local news website. And from time to time we will post links to the diary on this website, too.

There is lots of scope for further research on Lucas, his diary and the stories me mentions. He wrote before there was a local press so his diary is particularly important.  You can comment on the blog and the Archives will welcome further background information.

So, if you are interested in the history of early nineteenth century Stirlling take a look!

On 29 Nov the society heard an excellent presentation by Helen Beardsley and Karl McGee on this topic.

As a 'new' university, Stirling does not have the extensive medieval manuscripts and early books which are found in some of the more ancient foundations. But, in addition to the obvious material about the University's own history to date, there is extensive additional material. Much is of specifically local or Scottish interest, but there is extensive material about Napoleon - including the naval signal book from Saint Helena!

Amongst the subjects of major local importance are collections related to John Grierson and to Norman McLaren, two local men who were pivotal in the development of documentary film. Also, the extensive colllections of chapbooks and of publications by the Striling Tract Enterprises.

The slides from the talk can be viewed by clicking here.

If people have information about any of these topics or others of local interest, you can contact us at enquire@stirling-lhs.org

The Scotland's Places website has already earned its place amongst the best on-line resources for Scotland's past. Now new resoures have been added including information from the wonderful Ordnance Survey Name Books of the mid nineteenth century, reports of medical officers of health and much more.

Search is quick and simple and can yeild all sorts of useful stuff. For some of the most recent and detailed material there is a subscription of £15 for three months usage - but if you save up the enquiries, that is a good bargain!

Another new website which brings aspects of Scots culture to your screen and is bound to have local material:
http://www.scottishmusicindex.org

The Scottish Music Index

"The Index contains a Bibliography of over 200 volumes of Scottish instrumental music - mostly dance music but with many beautiful slow airs - published between 1700 and 1922 and an A-Z list of the tune titles in them (over 12000). The song books (with words) of central Scotland are not included, with one or two exceptions, like James Johnson's ever-popular "Scots Musical Museum" (1771) many of the songs airs in which are closely linked with dance; London-printed dance manuals are selected on the scale of their Scottish content; the Gaelic song repertoire and the military pipe manuals are fully listed online elsewhere. The Index features Source Codes (where the tune can be found), Key and Time Signatures and a Theme Code listing for cross-referencing entries...
..
Membership of the Scottish Music Index costs £10.00 and lasts for 24 months."
http://www.scottishmusicindex.org