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- University of Aberdeen
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Submitting institution
- University of Aberdeen
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Summary impact type
- Cultural
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- No
1. Summary of the impact
In the sixteenth century, Scots was the dominant language of Scotland. Despite centuries of Anglicisation, aided by education policy, over 1,500,000 speakers remain, many in North-East Scotland. University of Aberdeen research, developed from methodological engagement with local communities, has focused on the North-East dialect (Doric), its history, nature and the restoration of its centrality to the region. The research has influenced the development of education, both formal and cultural, on and in Doric; influenced decision-making on language at regional and national levels; and inspired documentary film production, which promotes and celebrates Doric producing commentary across traditional and digital media.
2. Underpinning research
The Modern Age has not been kind to languages whose speakers do not have immediate access to economic, social and political power. Scots, one of the native vernaculars of Scotland and in the Early Modern period the dominant language of the country, has been essentially dialectalised under Standard English, but continues to have considerable speaker numbers. In the North-East of Scotland, almost 160,000 speakers of Scots were recorded, according to the 2011 census, from a population of a little under 350,000. But even here, generations of, at best, official neglect have led to even ‘good’ native speakers evincing prejudice against their own language, often choosing not to pass this heritage on to their children.
The research carried out by Robert McColl Millar has helped to analyse and illustrate the dialects of the North-East as a whole, employing theory and methodology derived from dialectology, sociolinguistics and historical linguistics. His first study represented a major survey of everyday use of Scots, particularly in dialects local to the North of Scotland, informed by interactions with local communities and an historical appreciation of change and language retention in the dialect area [1]. Not only did the survey provide a modern and comprehensive mapping of the various dialects in use north of the River Tay, it also signalled a change to the traditional methodology used to study Doric (the local name for the Scots dialect of North-East Scotland), which had previously focused on abstract phonological issues, or the literature of the region, rather than on how it was actually used within everyday situations.
This work helped Millar attract significant AHRC funding, enabling extensive fieldwork to be carried out in coastal communities around Scotland’s North-East, on the retention and attrition of local vocabulary [P1; 2]. This research provided, for the first time in nearly a century, a clear picture of language use in those areas, accessible to interested laypeople while at the same time increasing our understanding of how lexical variation and change occurs.
The methodologies developed in both of these projects were then employed in relation to the Scots dialects spoken across Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The approach included a linguistic overview of the key regional varieties of the language [3]. The resulting work provided the first detailed analysis of all Scots varieties. But the focus of much of this work is primarily on those areas where Scots is a major part of community life. This is most markedly true with Doric and the North-East.
3. References to the research
[1] Millar, Robert McColl. 2007. Northern and Insular Scots. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[2] Millar, Robert McColl, William Barras and Lisa Marie Bonnici. 2014. Lexical variation and Attrition in the Language of the Scottish fishing communities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[3] Millar, Robert McColl. 2018. Modern Scots: An Analytical Survey. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[P1] The underpinning research was supported by peer-reviewed funding from the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for the project ‘Fisher Speak: Variation and Change in the Lexis of Scottish Fishing Communities’ (2007-2011; GBP254,877). Principal Investigator, Robert McColl Millar
4. Details of the impact
Millar’s research has informed the development of educational materials, from pre-school to university; enhanced knowledge and understanding of Scots within local communities; influenced decision-making in relation to the recognition of Scots as a language to be supported; and inspired the creation of documentaries promoting and celebrating Scots.
Informing the development of educational materials, from pre-school to university courses
Banff Academy, aided by the Elphinstone Institute, the University of Aberdeen’s local cultural and linguistic promotion unit, have used Millar’s research to develop Scots materials for secondary school. The school was felt appropriate for the experiment because Doric remains the primary community spoken variety. The teacher central to these changes, Jamie Fairbairn, remarks that Modern Scots [3] is essential for teaching; Millar’s talks and the documentary discussed below enhance his understanding of local language [S1]. Modern Scots informed a touring exhibition, ‘Fair Trickit’, created by Banff teachers and pupils, which showcased their Doric knowledge and use. Around 800 people across Scotland viewed the exhibition in autumn 2019 [S7]. The Elphinstone Institute’s Scots Language Pathway (2018-; supported by a British Educational Research Association GBP10,000 grant) was strongly influenced by these developments. Trialled in four schools, these plans are available for general use; its site has had 1040 visitors.
Millar’s work underlay a workshop on Doric for secondary schoolchildren in Forres (2019), organised by Moray Council and the Elphinstone Institute. It brought together experts on the language with children from a Doric heartland, foregrounding something central to their lives [S3].
Educational influence is apparent beyond the North-East. Education Scotland’s Scots Language Co-ordinator, Bruce Eunson, commented: ‘ Modern Scots … [is] a key text for anyone working with, or interested in, the Scots language today’ [S6]. Eunson used that book in a Level 1 Scots Language and Culture course for the Open University (2019-). In 2020, 78 students completed the course; over 10,000 people visited the site, with Eunson noting that ‘The course has generated huge interest and has been one of the most-visited courses on the OpenLearn Create platform to date!’ [S6].
Enhancing the knowledge and understanding of Scots within local communities
Learning support went well beyond formal teaching. Using Modern Scots [3], the Elphinstone Institute established an evening class, delivered first in 2019 (45 participants), improving confidence in reading and writing Doric. The Doric Dabblers (2019-), a smaller group from across the region, produce educational materials for younger children, informed by [3] and the Elphinstone Institute materials. Central to these initiatives was Jackie Ross, who also led a Doric course in Huntly (2019) [S4], encouraging active use. A Turkish participant wrote: ‘Thank ye fer keeping the language alive’ [S5].
The Elphinstone Institute’s Hame—Home—Dom project (2018-), informed by Millar’s work, introduces newcomers to local language and culture. Its online Doric course has proved attractive for people around the world (often of North-East parentage), providing confidence in language use [S8].
Influencing decision making regarding support for the Scots Language
Millar was appointed academic advisor to the North-East Scots Language Board, established in 2018 and bringing together local authorities’ staff responsible for cultural matters and community representatives to develop policy for maintaining and promoting Doric. Drawing on Millar’s expertise, the Board influenced the implementation of Aberdeenshire Council’s Doric Language Policy (2017, [S2]). This connection inspired council support for the documentary North-East Scots (2019), discussed below, along with the policy’s use in schools and libraries. The Board’s importance can also be seen in the employment of Doric by the NHS, including its use in recorded spoken instructions given to patients inside MRI scanners in local hospitals.
Nationally, Millar’s research has informed growing support for the establishment of a Scots Language Board and a new Scots Language Policy, both under consideration by the Scottish Government. At Westminster, MPs called for action to safeguard Scots in broadcasting and education (13 May 2020) [S9]. The motion references Rebel Tongue, discussed below. Finally, Millar’s research underpinned a European Parliament briefing document on Scots (published 13 August 2019) [S9].
Inspiring the creation of TV and documentary productions promoting Scots
Millar’s research has inspired several creative outputs. He features prominently in North-East Scots – The Doric Language (a film developed by the Elphinstone Institute, 2019), employed in schools and by community groups. The documentary was supported by Aberdeenshire Council (GBP5,000). It has been viewed over 63,000 times online, liked 427 and shared 546 times. It was premiered, with a panel discussion, at the University of Aberdeen’s MayFest (2019) to an audience of around 100 [S10].
Millar’s research also inspired Rebel Tongue (a documentary produced by, and aired on, BBC Scotland, 2020), presenting the history and present use of Scots [S10]. It was commissioned by the channel because of general interest in the subject matter in Scotland and the UK’s obligation to support and promote Scots following its adoption of the Council of Europe’s Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (2001).
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
[S1] E-mail from Teacher at Banff Academy, responsible for the development of Scottish Studies (with heavy emphasis on Scots language) in the school
[S2] E-mail from Aberdeenshire Council
[S3] Commentary on a workshop at Forres from Moray Council
[S4] Commentary in various forms from a workshop in Huntly and from its organiser
[S5] Commentary on the Doric Dabblers
[S6] Comments from Education Scotland’s Scots Language Co-ordinator and creator of the Scots course at the Open University
[S7] Material from the Fair Trickit initiative
[S8] Material from the Hame-Home-Dom initiative
[S9 (group)] Early Day Motion record: https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/56951/rebel-tongue; European Parliament briefing document on Scots Language: https://bit.ly/2lQw1Py
[S10 (group)] North-East Scots – The Doric Language documentary (video and transcript); details of the BBC Rebel Tongue documentary
- Submitting institution
- University of Aberdeen
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Summary impact type
- Cultural
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- No
1. Summary of the impact
Elliott’s research on the Bannatyne Manuscript (c. 1568) and its role in inspiring later anthologies, Ever Green (1724) and Evergreen (1894-6), demonstrates the anthology’s function as a format enabling the expression of collective identity, and illuminates the influence of the Bannatyne Manuscript on Edinburgh’s cultural heritage. It motivated the publication of a new anthology of creative work, The Evergreen: A New Season in the North (4 vols., 2014-19), which has played a significant role in Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust’s work to preserve Edinburgh’s built and cultural heritage by catalysing relationships between social enterprise and the academic humanities, directly supporting artistic practice and fostering new understandings of how cultural heritage can meet community needs.
2. Underpinning research
The Bannatyne Manuscript (1568) initiates a distinctive and enduring tradition, in which the anthology as a format plays an important role in defining complex, diverse, and yet unified conceptions of Scottish identity. Elliott’s research traces the importance of the Bannatyne for the development of conceptions of Scottish and British identity after the Union, and its ongoing contribution to culture and community in Edinburgh.
The Bannatyne anthology
Elliott’s research [2-5] stems from a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (2011-2014; [P1]) on the cultural afterlife of the Bannatyne Manuscript ( c. 1568), a poetic anthology in English and Scots compiled by Edinburgh merchant George Bannatyne. Elliott’s work focuses on the anthology’s role in facilitating the development of individual and collective identities, first as an expression of its maker’s identity, then as a symbol of Scottish nationalism and elite male culture.
Elliott’s research on the Bannatyne Manuscript highlights the role of individual poems in promoting conceptions of Scottish identity that encompass cultural diversity. Her contribution to the AHRC-funded History of Distributed Cognition project (2014-18) examines the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy ( c. 1508) [1]. Later published in Ramsay’s Ever Green (1724), this poem makes Edinburgh the backdrop for an argument addressing Scottish identity and its relationship to Gaelic and English language cultures. Uniting conflicting viewpoints in a single work of art keyed to the urban landscape, the Flyting supports the work of imagining Scotland as a diverse community (Elliott, 2019).
Bannatyne’s Cultural Legacy
Elliott’s research further charts the Bannatyne’s influence on Edinburgh’s cultural landscape: the poet Allan Ramsay (1686-1758) published poems from the anthology as The Ever Green (1724), fuelling the revival of Scots as a literary language [2-5]. The Bannatyne Club (1823-61), a gentleman’s antiquarian printing society founded in Edinburgh by the poet, novelist, and historian Sir Walter Scott, made George Bannatyne the figurehead for their mission to publish ‘works illustrative of the History, Topography, Poetry, and Miscellaneous Literature of Scotland’. Commemorating their past, the membership endorsed a distinctive Scottish identity, in tension with the homogenising influence of political Union (Elliott 2016). Marking a further stage in the Bannatyne’s reception, the town planner and conservationist Patrick Geddes published The Evergreen (4 vols., 1895-7), celebrating his development of the site of Ramsay’s former home on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile as housing for artisans, students, and academics.
Elliott’s study is the first to contextualise these responses to Bannatyne as part of an interconnected and distinctive tradition of particular importance for Edinburgh. Her collaboration with Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust (EOTDT, 2012-present) began as an attempt to take account of the ongoing influence of the Bannatyne tradition in the present.
In response to Elliott’s research, and at her instigation, EOTDT published a new series, The Evergreen: A New Season in the North (4 vols, 2014-19), as a conscious addition to the Bannatyne tradition, using the anthology format to articulate a dynamic, yet coherent community identity. Elliott’s contributions to the project and her role on the editorial board helped shape the direction of EOTDT’s project, while her ongoing research recognises EOTDT’s work as evidence of the vitality of the Bannatyne tradition and its present significance.
3. References to the research
[1] Elizabeth Elliott, ‘Cognitive Ecology and the Idea of Nation in Late-Medieval Scotland: The Flyting of William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy’, Distributed Cognition in Medieval and Renaissance Culture, The Edinburgh History of Distributed Cognition. Ed. Miranda Anderson and Michael Wheeler, Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
[2] Elizabeth Elliott, ‘Walter Scott’s Bannatyne Club, Elite Male Associational Culture, and the Making of Identities’, Review of English Studies 67, no. 281 (2016): 732-50. https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgw005
[3] Elizabeth Elliott, ‘Planting the Unsunned Hillside: A New Season for the Evergreen’, The Bottle Imp, 17: Ecology and Scottish Writing (2015). https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2015/06/planting\-the\-unsunned\-hillside\-a\-new\-season\-for\-the\-evergreen/
[4] Elizabeth Elliott, ‘Old-World Verse and Scottish Renascence: Flourishing Evergreen’, The Evergreen: A New Season in the North, ed. Sean Bradley et al., Vol. 1. Edinburgh: The Word Bank, 2014. 149-56
[5] Elizabeth Elliott, ‘Introduction’, ‘Playing with history: Geddes’ Masques’, The Evergreen: A New Season in the North, ed. Lucy Ellmann et al., Vol. 4. Edinburgh: The Word Bank, 2019, 9-11; 23-27.
Evidence of quality of underpinning research:
[P1] The underpinning research was supported by a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (September 2011-December 2012 and August 2013-February 2014; (GBP15,302).
[P2] Elliott was awarded GBP8851 by the Royal Society of Edinburgh under the Research Workshops Scheme (February 2015-January /2016).
4. Details of the impact
Illuminating the tradition stemming from the Bannatyne Manuscript, Elliott’s research was the locus for EOTDT’s venture into community publishing. The Evergreen: A New Season in the North, is a four-volume anthology of poetry, prose, and visual art (E1-E4, 2014-19) involving 85 contributors and intended as an Evergreen for the 21st century [S1]. The anthology created a new space for writers and artists to explore key themes, including place, identity and community. It has supported EOTDT to achieve its aims by increasing community participation and creative partnerships, contributed to EOTDT’s income, and fostered new understandings of how cultural heritage can meet community needs.
Co-creating a new anthology for the 21st Century
According to EOTDT’s director, Sean Bradley, ‘ the idea behind The Evergreen can be described simply: if you connect the people to the place in which they live – its history, natural environment, and culture – you encourage them to become more active and responsible citizens’ [S2]. Elliott proposed a new Evergreen as a pilot project for EOTDT community publishing collective, The Word Bank. A new Evergreen matched EOTDT’s commitment to preservation of Edinburgh’s built and cultural heritage, and the growth of community participation and the arts. Patrick Geddes’ work as an urban planner and conservationist was already an acknowledged inspiration for EOTDT, but Elliott’s research made the connection between development and the Evergreen. Bradley notes that, ‘ Not only did it provide an essential reference point for the framing of the subsequent publishing project, but it was an essential guide to how the 4 volumes developed, including the accompanying community learning programme’ [S2].
Stimulating Community Participation and Learning
The project contributed to EOTDT’s own formation and its ethos for engaging with its community. As a member of EOTDT’s board testifies, ‘ The process of publishing the Evergreen proved to be an important one in the formation of [EOTDT] in itself […] This process helped the EOTDT to develop its own constitution and ways of working’ [S4]. Consultation with stakeholders was built into the development process, with initial meetings in 2013, followed by a consultative workshop (2015), attended by representatives of Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, Workers’ Educational Association, the Patrick Geddes Centre, Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust, Edinburgh Printmakers, and academics. Elliott secured funding [P2] to support this consultation and a community learning programme, raising awareness of the project through public lectures hosted at the NLS and University of Edinburgh and a free poetry writing workshop (2015).
For contributor Petra Reid, ‘ The workshop had the effect of sparking my consciousness into reclaiming the physical and historical significance of the Old Town for me as a citizen of Edinburgh’. This began as ‘ an intensive few weeks of research into street life of the Old Town, which culminated in my contribution’. Discovering ‘ amazing historical accounts of the Old Town made me far more invested in the Old Town as a real place, while engagement with the work of Geddes continues to inform my practice as a writer’. For her contribution to Evergreen Volume 2, inspired by Elliott’s research on how ‘Ramsay and Geddes “ventriloquised” historical poets’, Reid ‘ had the idea of ventriloquising the ventriloquists. Therefore, this device, voicing a contemporary female figure to give rejoinder to both historic [and] present sexual inequalities, was directly influenced by LE’s [Elizabeth Elliot’s] piece’ [S5].
The project also created models of community activism, conservation, development, and culture for an international context. The 85 writers and artists commissioned for the anthology include contributors from India, Italy, the USA, and Spain. Open calls for submissions were circulated via social media and EOTDT’s website, with commissions ‘geared to ensuring quality and equality attracting new as well as established writers and contributions in minority languages’ [S3]. As editor of Volume 4 and prizewinning novelist Lucy Ellmann states, ‘ Geddes’s own vision was far-reaching – he and his work travelled, and we wanted the same for the new Evergreen’ [S6]. Sales figures are noted below, with users of the project website estimated at 6000 [S3].
For Bradley, Elliott’s collaboration with the EOTDT has modelled new ways of working and new possibilities for community engagement and cross-sector collaboration. ‘ The project as a whole offers a new and highly innovative model for productive collaboration between the academic humanities and social enterprise […] The Evergreen has contributed to making productive connections between organisations and individuals with shared interests and has made a direct contribution to supporting creative work’ [S3].
Contributing to Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust’s Financial Sustainability
Elliott’s collaboration with EOTDT also had economic impact, contributing to EOTDT’s income through grant awards and direct sales. Elliott has worked with the Trust to secure GBP37,000 grant funding related to the anthology project. Creative Scotland awarded EOTDT GBP25,000 (2014) for initial development and publication of the anthology, as high-quality work with a clearly-described public outcome. Funding from the Saltire Society (GBP2,000) and Edinburgh World Heritage (GBP1,000) supported the commissioning process [S3]. Additionally, as of 29/6/2020, 1184 books have been sold, generating GBP10,071.18 [S3].
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
[S1] Volumes 1-4 of The Evergreen. Ed. Sean Bradley et. al., Edinburgh: The Word Bank, 2014-2019.
[S2] Supporting statement from Director of Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust and managing editor of The Evergreen: A New Season in the North
[S3] Final report to Creative Scotland, 29/06/2020
[S4] Statement from Old Town resident and prior EOTDT board member
[S5] Statement from Canongate poetry workshop contributor (2015)
[S6] Statement from prizewinning novelist, editor of Volume 4 of The Evergreen
- Submitting institution
- University of Aberdeen
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Summary impact type
- Cultural
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- No
1. Summary of the impact
Walter Scott’s home at Abbotsford in the Scottish Borders is one of the most significant writer’s houses anywhere in the world, containing both his intact 9,000 book library and his museum collections. Its fabric reflects his artistic understanding of history and material culture, enabling visitors to access an unparalleled insight into the life and work of this author. Professor Lumsden’s scholarly work, including the publication of Scott’s Reliquiae Trotcosienses, has reshaped understanding of Scott’s creative process by drawing new connections between his writing, his home and his collections. Reliquiae Trotcosienses has transformed thinking about Abbotsford, influencing curatorial decisions and visitor information, informing public understanding, contributing to the co-creation of new, open-access learning materials, and supporting economic and social impact in the local area.
2. Underpinning research
Reliquiae Trotcosienses was one of the last works by Walter Scott. It captures how he tried to recover the past by sewing a thread that connects the building of his house at Abbotsford, his collections, and his writing, ultimately shedding light on his whole creative process. Written when his motor skills were deteriorating, his already difficult handwriting was made even worse, and Reliquiae was left unpublished by his nineteenth-century publishers and deemed unreadable by modern scholars, remaining only in a handful of published excerpts and in manuscript form.
The manuscript was rediscovered at Abbotsford in 2000. Professor Lumsden was invited to transcribe and co-edit the text, working alongside fellow Scott expert, Gerard Carruthers. Lumsden’s unparalleled expertise in reading Walter Scott’s handwriting, which she had developed during her role as research fellow for the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels (a world class scholarly edition of Scott’s work completed at Aberdeen between 1982 and 2012), put her in the unique position of being able to decipher and transcribe the manuscript. The process involved a series of steps. Lumsden created an initial transcript of the text, which was reviewed by Carruthers. The pair were able to secure unprecedented access to Scott’s house at Abbotsford, then still a family home, and used this to add another level of detail to the transcription. During their visits, they were able to verify and deepen their understanding of Scott’s process, taking measurements and identifying objects that were mentioned in Reliquiae, which they then used to provide detailed annotations to the text.
The result of this work was a publication that gives us an unparalleled insight into Scott’s thinking as he built Abbotsford – what is sometimes called his ‘Waverley Novels in stone’ – and the relationship between the house, Scott’s collections, and his creative processes. Not only had the beginning of the Reliquiae, setting the scene as a spoof antiquarian novel about the collecting process, never been published, but Lumsden’s research also unearthed evidence that, for Scott, his museum collections were always springboards for storytelling and revealed the organising principles of his collections at Abbotsford. In Reliquiae Scott also describes some of his favourite books, thus also providing an insight into the print artefacts that informed his creativity. Reliquiae therefore significantly changed how we think about Scott, his creative practice and the relationship between his creativity and his collecting activities [1].
At the same time as working on Reliquiae, Lumsden also edited Scott’s 1818 novel The Heart of Mid-Lothian [2]. Written at the time when Scott was completing the second phase of building at Abbotsford, the novel is illustrative of the relationship between material culture and story-telling that Scott describes in Reliquiae, a connection that Lumsden was able to highlight in this edition. As the novel was being written the old town of Edinburgh was being remodelled and Scott acquired the door, lock and keys to the tolbooth prison (‘the Heart of Mid-Lothian’). As Scott suggests in Reliquiae, these artefacts thus became prompts for storytelling and they are, in turn, housed at Abbotsford, with the tolbooth door built into the fabric of Scott’s home. Lumsden’s edition shows how The Heart of Mid-Lothian demonstrates Scott’s creative process within his writing.
These two complementary projects undertaken by Lumsden helped to illuminate the synergies between material culture and story that underpin Scott’s fiction and his home, transforming understandings of Scott’s relationship to the objects and stories of Abbotsford.
3. References to the research
[1] Walter Scott’s Reliquiae Trotcosienses, edited by Gerard Carruthers and Alison Lumsden (Edinburgh: Faculty of Advocates and Edinburgh University Press, 2004).
[2] Walter Scott’s The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels 6, edited by David Hewitt and Alison Lumsden (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004).
4. Details of the impact
Lumsden’s research [1,2] offers a unique insight into the relationship between the home of Scotland’s most significant novelist, his collections of books and artefacts, and his creative process. Her contribution to the first publication of the Reliquiae Trotcosienses and her editions of Scott’s novels, The Heart of Mid-Lothian in particular, have created a new understanding of Scott’s work, provided new materials that were used to inform the reinterpretation of the Scott museum at Abbotsford, and continue to be used by the curators as a unique reference point at a site of global cultural significance. In turn, this has enabled the museum to deliver benefits to the local area, through both economic and social impact. Lumsden’s research has also informed broader public understanding of Scott’s creative process, not least through the co-creation of a new online course.
Creating a unique reference point to shape the continuing reinterpretation of the Scott museum at Abbotsford
The opportunity to reinterpret the museum at Abbotsford came about in 2004, when the last descendant of the family to live there died and, in 2007, the house came into the custodianship of the Abbotsford Trust. Lumsden’s research was used as a key resource for Abbotsford’s refurbishment and the development of the Visitor Centre, which took place between 2008 and 2013. Since reopening in late 2013, Abbotsford has relied on Reliquiae to influence and inform both the curation of the museum and the information prepared for visitors, putting the objects Scott collected and their relationship to his creative output at the centre of the visitor experience. Lumsden has provided material for the story boards in the Visitor Centre and appears in a video loop on permanent show there explaining Scott’s approach to history, story and his home.
Her research on Reliquiae was used as a key resource to inform the development of one of the audio tours available to visitors, the ‘Voice of Scott’ as well as other visitor materials. As Kirsty Archer-Thompson, Abbotsford’s Collections and Interpretation Manager has said, ‘ In our visitor interpretation … we have tried to capture something of Scott’s tone of voice - and indeed his spirited passion for his antiquities and books - across both our audio and guided tours, using Reliquiae as our keystone text … these experiences continue to delight our audiences’ [S1]. Using extracts from Reliquiae the tour encourages visitors to see the relationship between collecting, story and Scott’s creative output. Visitors have reported on the ‘informative’ nature of the tour, providing ‘valuable insights’ at the same time as being ‘great fun’ [S2]. The tour has been converted to standard English as an alternative accessible option, and then translated into four international language options. Written versions are available in eleven languages. The tour was made available for public download while the house was shut due to Covid-19 and so that it could be accessed ahead of visits during social distancing (thus eliminating the need for handheld audio tours). It was downloaded 3206 times between 5 August 2020 and 19 October 2020 [S3].
The connection between object and creative process highlighted by Lumsden through her edition of Reliquiae has shaped the ethos of the museum, and the research continues to inform both curatorial decisions and research within Abbotsford. Kirsty Archer-Thompson uses Reliquiae frequently. She says,
I refer back to Professor Lumsden’s edition of Reliquiae perhaps more than any other text published in relation to Sir Walter Scott and his life… I also regularly read excerpts from Reliquiae alongside Scott’s letters to knit together the provenance of collection items only mentioned tangentially in the manuscript. The text is, therefore, still enabling curatorial research to this day [S1].
Enhancing the economic and social impact of the museum, through its refurbishment
Since refurbishment, visitor numbers have been strong at Abbotsford, with over 160,000 visitors since it reopened in 2013. Around 40% of these are international. The museum has contributed an estimated GBP45,760,000 to the local economy, supporting 915 jobs in the area and 35 at the museum itself. As well as the original GBP12,000,000 secured through grants and fundraising, the museum has attracted GBP250,000 in funds to restore Scott’s woodlands and paths, and a further GBP3,000,000 as an endowment to help safeguard Abbotsford for the future [S4].
Abbotsford also creates social impact, through the role of volunteers and the benefits that this brings to the individuals who take on that role, including confidence, social engagement, skills and learning. There is a thriving community of 115 volunteers supporting the house in various functions. Volunteer training reflects the ethos expressed in Reliquiae in relation to collecting and story, and the text underpins the Abbotsford Trust’s guide training programme as a core resource.
Enhancing public understanding of Scott’s creative process
As well as visitors to the museum, Lumsden’s research has also enhanced the understanding of Scott’s creative process for other audiences, in particular through a new massive open online learning course co-developed with Abbotsford. ‘Walter Scott: The Man Behind the Monument’, was launched on the FutureLearn platform in October 2019. Led by Lumsden, with input from the curatorial staff at Abbotsford, the course draws on the relationship between object and creative process outlined in Reliquiae to emphasise the synergies between material culture and story, illustrating these principles through Lumsden’s work on The Heart of Mid-Lothian. Described by Abbotsford as their largest ever learning experience, the first two runs of the course attracted 2,056 learners from 98 countries, including teachers, lawyers and heritage workers, as well as members of the public studying for interest. Feedback from many of the learners expressed the desire to visit Abbotsford in the future and highlighted a new awareness of the synergies between Scott’s collections and his writing. The course has remained open for new learners throughout 2020 and has now attracted a total of 5,217 participants from 118 countries, with an active learning rate of over 80% [S5].
Lumsden’s expertise continues to be recognised, not least through her appointment as a Trustee at Abbotsford. In this role, she will chair its Heritage and Engagement Committee as it plans cultural celebrations and project activity to mark the 250th anniversary of Scott’s birth in 2021.