The following was written by the National Archives of Scotland:
The National Archives of Scotland is pleased to be a major partner in a year-long exhibition Famous Scots which opened to the public in New Register House, part of the new ScotlandsPeople Centre, on Monday 26th January.
Starting with Billy Connolly, Famous Scots explores the family history of six well-known Scots throughout the Homecoming Scotland 2009 year. The spotlight falls on each Famous Scot in turn. The six exhibitions will show visitors how to trace their own Scottish family history in the ScotlandsPeople Centre, and how to take their research further.
The exhibition is being staged in the extraordinary dome of New Register House, the very centre of Scotland’s family history archive – surrounded by hundreds of thousands of registers in which the lives of Scots from the 16th are recorded.
As well as the family history aspect, the exhibition links the stories of the subject’s ancestors to important themes in Scotland’s history. For example, the Billy Connolly exhibition looks at shipbuilding on the Clyde, the poorhouse and clearances from the Islands. Visitors will also have the opportunity to discover details of past occupations, changing places, and how the lives of the subject’s forebears were shaped by the changing communities to which they belonged.
An interactive resource offers a step-by-step guide to beginning a family history search. Visitors can follow this up in the ScotlandsPeople Centre when they leave the exhibition.
ScotlandsPeople is a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon. The organisers are very grateful for the help they have already received from other repositories, including Glasgow City Archives, Scottish Catholic Archives and the Scottish Mining Museum.
For more information on Famous Scots: www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/scotlands-people-centre/famous-scots.html.
Starting with Billy Connolly, Famous Scots explores the family history of six well-known Scots throughout the Homecoming Scotland 2009 year. The spotlight falls on each Famous Scot in turn. The six exhibitions will show visitors how to trace their own Scottish family history in the ScotlandsPeople Centre, and how to take their research further.
The exhibition is being staged in the extraordinary dome of New Register House, the very centre of Scotland’s family history archive – surrounded by hundreds of thousands of registers in which the lives of Scots from the 16th are recorded.
As well as the family history aspect, the exhibition links the stories of the subject’s ancestors to important themes in Scotland’s history. For example, the Billy Connolly exhibition looks at shipbuilding on the Clyde, the poorhouse and clearances from the Islands. Visitors will also have the opportunity to discover details of past occupations, changing places, and how the lives of the subject’s forebears were shaped by the changing communities to which they belonged.
An interactive resource offers a step-by-step guide to beginning a family history search. Visitors can follow this up in the ScotlandsPeople Centre when they leave the exhibition.
ScotlandsPeople is a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon. The organisers are very grateful for the help they have already received from other repositories, including Glasgow City Archives, Scottish Catholic Archives and the Scottish Mining Museum.
For more information on Famous Scots: www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/scotlands-people-centre/famous-scots.html.
