Inside Category History
550 Years Ago: how Shetland became part of Scotland - part 2
Shetland and Orkney became part of Scotland 550 years ago, on 20 February 1472. Denmark’s economic interests were concentrated in ...
Read more
A reminiscence of a traditional Shetland wedding
When lockdown came, one of our first sad tasks was to tell two couples who’d planned a wedding in the museum that it couldn’t ...
Read more
550 Years Ago: how Shetland became part of Scotland
A fortnight ago some women and men from the South Mainland of Shetland marched in Glasgow with torches. They were commemorating the ...
Read more
Up Helly Aa - the Venues
We’re missing Up Helly Aa again - not just a fire spectacle but a major social event, with dances and performances in many venues in ...
Read more
Origins of the Up Helly Aa Song
A huge procession of torch-carrying guizers is one of the most spectacular sights of the Shetland year. For anyone who heads out in ...
Read more
A historical walk to Culsetter
There is much more to Shetland than the popular places where people go: the Hams of Muckle Roe and the Sands of Breckon, for instance. ...
Read more
A Lerwick Christmas One Hundred Years Ago: 1921
The Town Council decided which day the Christmas holiday should be on, there had been petitions. After some deliberation they settled ...
Read more
Shetland Museum and Archives awarded funding for Year of Stories
Shetland Museum and Archives is delighted to announce that it will be celebrating and showcasing many of Shetland’s untold stories ...
Read more
The Maiden
Hallowe’en at the end of October is traditionally a part of the year when macabre things are thought of and expressed. Perhaps a ...
Read more
The Tolbooth Jail
We don’t have many records that make a direct reference to a person’s personal appearance. Important people might be described, ...
Read more
A Day in Bigga
Bigga, a little island in Yellsound, 80 hectares in extent, is not easy to visit. It has been uninhabited for 200 years, largely ...
Read more
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, ...
Read more
Witchcraft in Shetland
Between around 1615 and 1680 Shetland was afflicted by a mania that was disturbing other parts of Europe. Ordinary Shetlanders and ...
Read more
Beltane Festival
We're all familiar with calendar customs. Those we have in Shetland today (with one notable exception in late January!) are identical ...
Read more
The Man Behind the Lowrie Stories
Sometime in the 1920s a middle-aged businessman in Lerwick began to write stories. He didn’t write about his native town. The hero ...
Read more