The Dynamic Collection

The RCAHMS Annual Review for 2011-2012 is now available to read online. Titled The Dynamic Collection, the focus of this year’s review is ‘what makes the RCAHMS National Collection?’

Throughout 2011–12, there have been a number of key examples of this 'dynamic collection' at work. In the Outer Hebrides, our surveyors have collaborated with local people and communities to search out and record the archaeology of the coastlines. In a major partnership project with English Heritage and the Royal Commission in Wales, we have been preserving and digitising 95,000 images from one of the UK's earliest and most significant collections of aerial photography. The research expertise of our staff has been displayed in a landmark book on ancient stone circles, and has also seen one of our investigators lead a BBC film crew underground near Invergordon to explore a secret Second World War fuel depot. And, with the Heritage Lottery Fund ‘Skills for the Future’ project, we have been training the next generation of heritage experts, investing in the people who will keep our National Collection going far into the future.

Writing in the introduction to the Annual Review, RCAHMS Chairman John Hume, and Chief Executive Diana Murray, said, “The RCAHMS National Collection is alive and dynamic. It is continually changing and growing over time as new people create it, use it, explore it and enjoy it – bringing fresh insights, and developing new avenues for research.

"A National Collection grows, changes and evolves through its interaction with people, from dedicated professionals and specialists to community groups and school children. And it thrives on enthusiasm – reaching out from the pages of a book, the images of an exhibition, or through the vast global hub of the internet, to engage an ever-widening audience with the fascinating history and heritage of Scotland.”