Archives Searchroom

The Archives searchroom is a comfortable, quiet space which is open to anyone who wishes to find out more about a particular subject, or just browse books, newspapers or records in the collection.

Opening Times

The Archives Online Catalogue is continually updated with new material and can be accessed before your visit, or from one of the public access PC’s in the searchroom. Archives staff are on hand to facilitate access to any documents requested and instruct on the use of equipment, or provide copies of documents where required. Please note a small fee will be payable for copies produced.

Although the Archives searchroom is frequently used by researchers, it is not only a resource for academic study. The records held here are varied and diverse and can be used for many purposes such as tracing family history, investigating the origins of an older property or looking up the Shetland Times from the day you were born

Archives Searchroom Blog Posts

Christmas in Shetland - 1923

1923, like many of the years between the wars, was not a good one. The Shetland Times year end report spoke of a poor herring fishing, ...

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New poetry book - ‘Love in Human Herts’

‘Love in Human Herts’, a new publication celebrating Vagaland’s finest poetry has been launched today by the Shetland Amenity ...

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The funny story behind some of Lerwick's street names

In the 1880s Lerwick was changing rapidly. As the great herring fishery of that era developed, there were new streets, and potential ...

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National Poetry Day

To celebrate National Poetry Day we asked assistant archivist (and poet) Mark Smith to uncover a hidden gem from the archives. This ...

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Shetland Museum and Archives Launches New Online Archive Catalogue

A new online Archives catalogue has been launched today (Tuesday 8 August) at the Shetland Museum and Archives.

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Alanbrooke and the Kearton Brothers

When archivist Angus Johnson started to read through his copy of Alanbrooke's War Diaries, he did some digging in the archives to see ...

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Preparing for the herring – photos from the archives

George Gen and Sarah Mackintosh, members of our Visitor Experience team have pulled together a selection of photos from our online ...

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Hugh MacDiarmid's poetry - taking inspiration from Shetland's herring industry

In the summer of 1933 a man called Christopher Murray Grieve came to live in Whalsay. Originally from the Scottish borders, he had ...

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Memories from the archives

Grace Leask (née Mouat) shared her memories of time spent as a gutter lass in Shetland.

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Celebrating World Book Day with Shetland's Oldest Known Book - Boece

For anyone who wants to read about Shetland, the archives is a good place to come.  Our book collection, we like to think, is perhaps ...

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Love letters from the past

Since we’ve got to St Valentine’s Day the time has come to consider the Shetland Archives holdings on the subject of love. Do we ...

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Remembering George P.S. Peterson

George P.S. Peterson died recently at the age of 90. He was a notable archival source, teacher, writer, storyteller, folk dancer, and ...

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Robert Barclay, East India Company

The Bruce of Symbister collection in the Shetland Archives, GD144, is a collection of bundled papers. Since it isn’t feasible to ...

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Alexander Wallace

A very welcome book came out recently. Developed from a Ph.D., 'Shetland Boats: Origin, Evolution and Use', by Dr Marc Chivers ...

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Archivist Brian Smith receives distinguished service award

We’re delighted that Brian Smith’s dedication to Shetland’s historical records has been recognised with a distinguished service ...

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