Nucleus set for digital Doors Open Day with series of films over weekend
THE Nucleus archive centre in Wick will be playing its part in an online version of the annual Doors Open Day event this weekend.
Organised nationally by the Scottish Civic Trust, Doors Open Days celebrates heritage and the built environment and normally offers free access to venues across the country throughout September – but due to Covid-19 it will be going digital this year.
Nucleus: the Nuclear and Caithness Archive is planning a series of films on its Facebook page over the weekend of September 5 and 6. These will showcase the work of the Highland Archive Service which has centres in Inverness, Skye and Lochaber as the Caithness Archive.
Archivist Jennifer Johnstone will take viewers through the journey of a document once it arrives. Genealogist Ann Fraser will discuss family history research, while senior conservator Richard Aitken will talk about his work looking after the extensive collections held across the region by the four archive centres.
Ann Mackay from Nucleus will be reflecting on the lockdown period, and the work the archive did to stay engaged with the public. She will also talk about the importance of archives and some of her favourite documents, including a recent deposit from Hamilton's and UA Partnership covering nearly 100 years of agriculture in Caithness.
Another recent deposit to Nucleus is a large collection of bound copies of the John O’Groat Journal and Caithness Courier, dating back to 1836 in the case of the Groat. These historic newspapers arrived at the archive after the sale of the former Groat and Courier offices in Union Street, Wick, where they had been stored for many years. The local papers, part of Highland News & Media, now have new offices in the town.
Archive assistant Valerie Amin will discuss how local newspapers can be a great resource for family history research.
"We were delighted to receive this collection," Valerie said. "The John O’Groat Journal and Caithness Courier have been a huge part of Caithness life for the best part of 200 years.
"The deposit will fill gaps in our existing John O’Groat Journal collection and add the Caithness Courier. The Courier traditionally covered the Thurso area and the west of the county, so they will give us a fuller picture of county life in the archive.
"Newspapers are one of our most popular collections, especially with local visitors.
"We’ve been working our way slowly through all the old papers. The sheer scale of the deposit was quite overwhelming at first. There are hundreds of copies dating from 1836 right up to 2018.
"We have a system going where every volume is listed and barcoded, then shelved in date order. Most of the newspapers had been bound into volumes by year and are in fairly good condition.
"The copies that are in poorer condition are wrapped in archival paper and tied securely with archival tape. The temperature and humidity in the repository is constantly monitored and controlled, providing perfect storage conditions for the newspapers so they can be preserved and enjoyed by Caithness folk for many years to come."
Valerie pointed out that when Nucleus is open to the public again the newspapers will be available for anyone to view. "In the meantime if anyone is looking for something in particular we are happy to send a digital image – they just need to email an enquiry to north.highlandarchive@highlifehighland.com."
All films will be available over the weekend on the Nucleus Facebook page or on the High Life Highland YouTube channel .
Nucleus: the Nuclear and Caithness Archive opened in February 2017. It was built to hold the records of the UK’s civil nuclear industry as well as the historic records for the county of Caithness.
The building can hold up to 230,000 boxes of records. One repository is dedicated to storing the Caithness Archive collection.