Inside Category Archives

The real story behind the Shetland wulver
In recent years there has been a lot of discussion about the ‘wulver’, Shetland’s ‘kind and generous werewolf’, as someone ...
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Witchcraft in Shetland
Between around 1615 and 1680 Shetland was afflicted by a mania that was disturbing other parts of Europe. Ordinary Shetlanders and ...
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Shetland Footballer - James Hunter Thomson
James Hunter Thomson came from Deepdale (born 1884). There isn’t much that comes from Deepdale now. Uninhabited lang syne, you get ...
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The Bohemian Girl
In 1843 White’s, a firm of Quaker shipbuilders, launched a schooner, 125 tons, 104ft x 22.5ft x 12ft, the Bohemian Girl.
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Celebrating International Women's Day: Britta Laurenson
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Here Jenny ...
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Get Your Skates On!
The weather has changed, the temperature risen, wind and rain are back, the frosty winter fun gone. In 1909 though, one organisation ...
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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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Winter Sports
We’ve had a fine spell of weather of late, snowy, frosty, crispy. Out for a walk one day I was told someone had been spotted skiing, ...
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Northwest Passage
On the 26th of June 1576, three ships anchored near St Ninian’s Isle. These were the Gabriel, a twenty-five tonne barque, the ...
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Up Helly Aa has a most interesting history
With the cancellation of Up Helly Aa there will be no torchlit procession, galley burning or all night partying this year. These ...
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The Shetland Archives - behind the searchroom
In the Shetland archives, we are lucky to have an enormous collection of our recent-forebears on tape. There are recordings of men and ...
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Unveiling the Shetland War Memorial, 6 January 1924
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the time of the armistice that ended the Great War. Remembrance in ...
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VJ Day in Shetland
VJ Day (Victory Over Japan) has never been as important a celebration as VE Day, but for some people in Shetland it was a very ...
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Peter and Olla
Archivist Brian Smith retells the story of cousins Peter and Olla, two very different characters, who met one notable New Year's eve. ...
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James A Teit: Tackling racism in the late 1800's
In December 1883, Lerwick Man James Teit emigrated to Canada where he lived and worked with indigenous communities, listening and ...
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