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A selection of useful books and websites
[general history] [ancestors] [boats] [herring]
[salmon] [portsoy] [local
archives]
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National Archives
The National Archives is the UK government's official archive,
containing 900 years of history with records ranging from parchment and
paper scrolls through to digital files and archived websites. The National
Archives makes open records available to all, either onsite or online,
continuously developing new tools to make history tangible for everyone.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ |
National Archives of Scotland
Our mission is to select, preserve, and make available the national
archives of Scotland in whatever medium, to the highest standards; to
promote the growth and maintenance of proper archive provision throughout
the country; and to lead the development of archival practice in Scotland.
www.nas.gov.uk |
Scottish Archives Network
The Scottish Archive Network is a project whose partners are the
National Archives of Scotland (NAS), the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), and
the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU).
The project aims to revolutionise access to Scotland's archives by
providing a single electronic catalogue to the holdings of more than 50
Scottish archives.
www.scan.org.uk |
National Library
The National Library of Scotland is an information treasure trove of
Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture, with millions of books,
manuscripts and maps covering every subject.
www.nls.uk |
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of
Scotland (RCAHMS) is responsible for recording, interpreting and
collecting information about the built environment. This information,
which relates to buildings, sites, and ancient monuments of
archaeological, architectural and historical interest (including maritime
sites and underwater constructions) is then made freely available to the
public.
www.rcahms.gov.uk |
Statistical Accounts of Scotland
The two Statistical Accounts of Scotland, covering the 1790s and the
1830s, are among the best contemporary reports of life during the
agricultural and industrial revolutions in Europe. Learn more about the
area in which you or your ancestors have lived, or use this key source to
study the emergence of the modern British State and the economic and
social impact of the world's first industrial nation.
Based largely on information supplied by each parish church minister,
the original (first) Statistical Account and the New (second) Statistical
Account provide a rich record of a wide variety of topics: wealth, class
and poverty; climate, agriculture, fishing and wildlife; population,
schools, and the moral health of the people.
www.edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot Fordyce, County of Banff (includes
Portsoy)
Account of 1791-99, volume 3, 45
Account of 1834-45, volume 13, 178 |
Elphinstone Institute
The Institute is an initiative on the part of the University of
Aberdeen to introduce the study of human traditions into its research
portfolio, especially the traditions of the North and the North-East of
Scotland.
The people of this relatively vast area have experienced major changes
over the past three centuries: depopulation (the Highland Clearances and
two World Wars), agricultural revolution, and North Sea Oil among them.
Charting such changes in the past and the present, and studying and
explaining the cultural and psychological upheaval that goes with them, is
central to our activities such as conferences, lectures, workshops and
publications.
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~wap001/
Note in particular - "Northern Folk: Living Traditions of North East
Scotland" - an lnteractive multimedia CD-ROM
with some really useful downloadable notes at
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/publications/northern-folk.shtml |
The North East Folklore Archive
NEFA, The North East Folklore Archive, is a cultural resource created
for the study and appreciation of the traditions and social history of
Aberdeenshire.
The Archive is essentially an on-line service but does hold a small
collection of reference books available to the public by prior
arrangement. They include a number of local history publications and the
song collections of Greig - Duncan and John Ord.
http://www.nefa.net |
| SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources
Access Network) The Scran Trust - a
registered charity - aims to provide educational access to digital
materials representing our material culture and history. We are one of the
largest educational online services in the UK supporting over 4,000
schools, libraries, colleges and universities.
The learning resource service hosts 360,000 images, movies and sounds
from museums, galleries, archives and the media. It can be used as a
superior form of clip art or for particular learning applications.
http://www.scran.ac.uk/ |
| Open University - Open Learn - Scotland This
unit serves as a gateway to over 30 units that have been specifically
developed to reflect the enormous interest in Scottish culture and
society. The OpenLearn Scotland collection provides you with the
opportunity to access free learning resources of particular relevance to
Scotland.
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3773 |
| ScotlandsPlaces Bringing authentic information
and images together to help you discover places in Scotland.
ScotlandsPlaces is a website that lets users search across different
national databases using geographic location. The user is able to enter a
place-name or a coordinate to search across these collections or they can
use the maps to refine and define their search.
http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/ |
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Scotlands People - connecting generations
One of the largest online sources of original genealogical information.
With almost 50 million records to access, we hope your visit will be
enjoyable and that you are successful in connecting generations.
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ |
Ancestral Scotland - Exploring your roots
Discover more about the Scot in you
Retracing the footsteps of your ancestors will bring the past to life.
From the meaning of surnames to the jobs our ancestors did, this
section of
www.ancestralscotland.com will help you explore your Scottish
roots.
http://www.ancestralscotland.com/roots/index.html
There are lots of
good books to help you explore your Scottish ancestry and learn more
about Scotland. |
The Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History
Society
The Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society exists to assist
and promote the study of genealogy and family history based on the North
East corner of Scotland. This area covers the old counties of
Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Kincardineshire and Morayshire.
http://www.anesfhs.org.uk/ |
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Comprehensive list of UK maritime museums
click HERE |
 Angus Graham (1977) Old harbours and landing-places on the east coast
of Scotland; PSAS 108 (1976-7);
34 page pdf file
click HERE |
Isabella Fortuna (A regular Festival visitor)
In 1890, James Weir of Marketgate Arbroath was commissioned by John
Smith to build the ‘Isabella” (later renamed “Fortuna”). Launched on
September 15 of that year she was, at the time, the largest yawl in the
Arbroath fleet. On her launch “Isabella” was registered as a second class
vessel and given the registration number 153 AH ...
more ... |
Edgar J March (1952) Sailing Drifters: Story of the Herring Luggers of
England, Scotland and the Isle of Man; Percival Marshall and Company
Limited London; ISBN
0715346792
 Huge fleets of
Herring Drifters once worked out of Yarmouth and Lowestoft and around the
coasts of England, Scotland and the Isle of Man. The history of herring
lugger, mackerel driver, scaffie, fifie, zulu, nikey and nobby is told
with a wealth of detail never before available. Here is no conjectural
story, but actual facts recounted to the author by the fishermen
themselves, who knew the life sixty and more years ago.
The construction and rig of these picturesque craft, built to suit the
waters in which they fished, is illustrated with 60 pages of scale plans,
many by the author, and 76 sketches of gear. 191 superb photographs
portray a way of life now gone forever and likely to have vanished
unrecorded had not Edgar J March striven to collect information stored in
the wise old heads of a generation now well into the evening of its day. |
The Scottish Herring Industry
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Malcolm Gray (1978) The Fishing Industries of
Scotland 1790-1914 - a Study in Regional Adaptation; Aberdeen University
Studies Series Number 155; ISBN
0197141056
 This book
covers the period during which Scotland rose to become one of the main
fishing powers or Europe and when, in spite of the increasing domination
of the heavy industries, fishing was accounting for a considerable
proportion of the national income.
It is primarily an economic analysis, dealing with development in terms
of markets, resources, investment and technology.
The national picture is found to have been a composite of widely
different regional developments and the economic factors are therefore
analysed in terms of main regions.
These regions are defined by geography, resources and social
traditions, and Malcolm Gray shows how such influences affected the
economic development of fishing and the response to opportunities of
exploiting fishing wealth.
The author is Reader in Economic History in the University of Aberdeen. |
James R Coull (1996) The Sea Fisheries of Scotland
- a historical geography; ISBN
0859764109
 This is a
definitive history of fishing in Scottish waters from prehistory to the
present. It deals with the development of boats and harbours, fish stocks,
trawling and many other aspects of fishing.
The book is much enhanced by numerous diagrams and maps, together with
a plate section featuring more than thirty reproductions of unusual
photographs, fully captioned and related to the text.
The author is senior lecturer in Geography at the University of
Aberdeen |
James Miller (1999) Salt in the Blood - Scotland's Fishing Communities
past and present; ISBN
0862418364
 Scotland's
fishing communities have retained their unique flavour and this book
explores how they rose, grew, and have since declined in the midst of an
industry that now centres on major ports for its wealth.
As the book shows, the seas around the Scottish coast are fertile but
winning a livelihood from them has never been easy. Over
generations, the pursuit of fishing created a series of distinctive
close-knit communities, with their own customs and traditions.
The author was born and grew up between a croft and a fishing village
in Caithness. He is the author of A Fine White Stoor (1992) and
A Wild and Open Sea (1994) |
Richard Hallewell (1991) Scotland's Sailing Fishermen - the History of
the Scottish Herring Boom; ISBN
1872405010
 This 32 page
booklet has sections dealing with the fish; the early industry; Caithness;
the East Coast; the West Coast; the Northern Isles; the Luggers;
Conclusion; and a bibliography.
Most of the many photographs are from the collection of the Scottish
Fisheries Museum, Anstruther |
Shetland Museums Service - Herring Fishing
Herring has been fished in Shetland waters for centuries. The Dutch had
long been considered expert in catching and processing herring; however,
in the 19th century, the Scottish, English and Norwegian took on the role
as main catchers and exporters...
more ... |
The Salmon Industry
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DVD (2006) Netting Scotland's King of Fish - the history of the
Scottish Wild Salmon Fishing Industry
The two DVDs chart the many sides of the wild salmon netting industry
that once thrived all along the Scottish coast and in many rivers.
Researched and scripted by Willie Shearer (Advisor to the Portsoy
Salmon Bothy Project)
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Findlay Pirie (2008) Research Books
10 volumes of research notes about Portsoy accumulated over many years
(details to follow) |
Voices from the sea (History with attitude)
- the novels of
Evelyn Hood
Evelyn Hood’s novel "Voices
from the Sea" is set in the Moray Firth village of Portsoy in the late
19th century. (Evelyn is a long term friend of the
Scottish Traditional Boat Festival)
 When
widowed Eppie Watt becomes the housekeeper for local businessman Alexander
Geddes she and her daughter Charlotte and sister Marion find their lives
becoming entangled with those of Alexander and his domineering mother,
spoiled daughter and his son Duncan, who longs to work in the marble
quarry supervised by his father, and runs away from home when Alexander
insists on him becoming a physician instead.
When Duncan finally returns to the village he brings with him a
stranger, Foy, who brings even more turmoil to the Geddes household, and
to Eppie.
As always, the book is filled with living, breathing characters and the
reader is swept along by the story of their lives, loves, losses and, for
some, ultimate happiness.
http://www.evelynhood.co.uk |
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Newspapers on Microfilm:
1845-2007 The Banffshire Journal and Northern Farmer
1859 The Banffshire Mercury (23 Sept to 16 Nov)
1869-1920 The Banffshire Reporter (Portsoy)
1907-1910 The Banffshire Chronicle and West Aberdeenshire News
ALSO
Great Britain, General Register Office, Census Results
1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901
Old Parish Records for Alvah, Banff, Boyndie, Enzie, Fordyce, Forglen,
Gamrie, King Edward, Marnoch, Monquhitter, Ordiquhill, Turriff. |
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The Portsoy library holds a collection of copies of over 300 postcards
and photographs of the local area. These were donated mainly by Peter and
Moira Miller, Jean Forsyth, and Roddy Drummond. |
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