Furniture Maker's Archive Goes Online

8 April 2013

Highlights from a two-hundred-year-old archive of photographs and drawings from the Edinburgh-based furniture makers Whytock and Reid have now been made available online.

Founded in 1807, the firm was granted a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria in 1838, and went on to receive international renown for its upholstery, decoration and quality cabinet making.

The Reid family have gifted over 20,000 items relating to the firm to the RCAHMS National Collection, with the material including designs and drawings for furniture ranging from beds to boardroom tables produced for clients including the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Life Association and country houses and churches throughout Scotland.

This archive has undergone painstaking cataloguing and digitisation work, and some of the best images from the collection can now be viewed in a series of online galleries and audio slideshows. Original material can also be accessed through the RCAHMS public search room.

Recent cataloguing work on the collection was carried out by trainees working at RCAHMS as part of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) ‘Skills for the Future’ project. This project provides trainees with invaluable practical experience working in the heritage industry – helping them get jobs in archives, museums and galleries in the future.

In May 2012, RCAHMS grant award from the HLF was increased to £898,400, allowing for total trainee numbers to rise from 21 to 34, and for the programme to extend from three years to four. This award was part of a further investment by the HLF in 51 ‘Skills’ projects throughout the UK which, by 2015, will deliver 700 years’ worth of paid training opportunities for people seeking a career in heritage.