Dr. Ian Tait
Curator at the Shetland Museum and Archives
Articles written by Dr. Ian Tait
End of an era - last orders at tearooms
For more than a century there’s been a tearoom at the south end of Commercial Street, between the Post Office and the Tolbooth.
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Who's afraid of the njuggel?
Halloween wouldn’t be the same without a fair sprinkling of supernatural beings such as ghosts, vampires and werewolves, but ...
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Shetland's jubilations (Part 2)
2022 is the third time in twenty years there’s been a Royal Jubilee, so you might think they come around often. In fact, it’s in ...
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Shetland's jubilations (Part 1)
2022 is the third time in twenty years there’s been a Royal Jubilee, so a body might think they come around often. In fact, it's in ...
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Where is Shetland?
Where is Shetland? Well, it depends who you ask. "In the north Atlantic" is the most likely answer, but it isn't the only one, ...
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Beltane Festival
We're all familiar with calendar customs. Those we have in Shetland today (with one notable exception in late January!) are identical ...
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His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
We are saddened to hear of the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
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Why burn peats?
As part of the Between Islands project, Shetland’s new online exhibition, ‘Fair Game’ examines three customs that are now ...
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A present from Lerwick?
Some artefacts are interesting for what they tell us, and others are simply nice to look at. Here's one that's both. On the face of ...
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Why hunt whales?
Pilot whales were important to islanders’ survival, providing many useful products. Subsistence whaling was unpredictable, because ...
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St Sunniva's Tableware
The pandemic meant no cruise liners came to Lerwick, but not many Shetlanders realise that an important one lies on the seabed at ...
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Why hunt fowl?
As part of the Between Islands project, Shetland’s new online exhibition, ‘Fair Game’ examines three customs that are now ...
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Grayson Perry: Behind the Scenes
We caught up with Curator of the Shetland Museum and Archives, Dr Ian Tait, to find out just what's involved in bringing the work of a ...
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