Edwardian Scotland

The Edwardian era is often portrayed as a pause between the exertions of Victoria's empire and the Great War. Yet nothing can be further from the truth. Victorian energy created the many building blocks of the modern world, but it was the Edwardians who truly integrated them into everyday life, ushering in a period of unprecedented social upheaval. The early 1900s marked the beginning of the ‘people’s century’, bringing politics, science and technology to the masses.

From 1888, when George Eastman launched his No.1 Kodak Camera with the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest”, photography, once a hobby practiced only by a privileged few, was open to everyone. By the Edwardian era, cameras, photographs and family albums were ubiquitous, and people were recording nearly every aspect of their daily lives.

This unique and largely unseen selection of period photography, taken from the RCAHMS archives, reveals an intimate portrait of an age.  From the work of famous photographers like Bedford Lemere & Co and Thomas Annan, to snapshots from private family albums, these images provide a fascinating glimpse into a remarkable period in Scotland's history.