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Collections
From fine and decorative art to furniture, books and associated archives, the National Trust for Scotland’s collections bring us closer to the people who lived and worked in our buildings.
We care for around 300,000 collections items in over 50 properties, including one of the greatest collections of art in Scotland. By studying the contents of our castles and houses, we can learn more about the people who built, furnished and worked in them.
Unlike museums, we house our collections in their original locations. Visitors to Broughton House can see works by ‘Glasgow Boy’ E A Hornel in the place they were created. At Brodie Castle we keep paintings by Dutch Old Masters, as well as the Brodie children’s original toys. Kellie Castle, once owned by famous artistic family the Lorimers, contains everything from fine furniture to sketches made by a young Sir Robert Lorimer when he was bedridden with scarlet fever.
Everything tells a story – from clothes to candlesticks and teapots to oil paintings. By keeping so many historical artefacts in their original setting, we’re able to paint a vivid picture of Scotland’s rich and varied past.
Curatorship
Curating our collections is all about looking at the big picture – uncovering the whole story of a time or place through the items and artefacts to hand. The curators who work with our collections are experts in researching and displaying objects. They interpret artefacts in a way that tells the story of Scotland’s people and buildings, using items from maps to ceramics to give a voice to the people behind them.
We’ve picked out a few favourites in our 50 Interesting Objects series, including priceless paintings, famous manuscripts and even a Dutch pancake pan, but if you’re anything like us, you won’t want to stop at 50! Luckily, you can see thousands more objects in their original setting by visiting our properties.
Part I: 50 interesting objects
Part II: 50 interesting objects
Part III: 50 interesting objects
Did you know?
We look after over 100 chandeliers and at least 600 candlesticks.
Documentation and Online Collections
Every item in our collection needs to be documented in detail, and we use a number of powerful databases to store collections information and digitised images. Our archivist is responsible for cataloguing and storing the paper and electronic records that we create; our photo librarian manages a database of images; and our collections management team compile and maintain the catalogue of the fine art and object collections.
Digitisation is a way of giving better access to our collections by creating digital copies of documents and photographs and by photographing objects. It also ensures preservation of key information held in paper records – like a back-up.
For all documentation, cataloguing and digitisation work, it’s essential to be able to link a database record with the object or document that it relates to. Object numbers help us to do this, and if you see a number marked on an object in one of our properties, this will link to a record on our database. When we move an object, we record this number and update the database to keep our information up to date.
Robert Burns Collection
The life and works of Scotland’s national bard are now accessible to a global audience at the touch of a button with our online Burns Collection. Archive material from the Trust’s collections can be viewed by anyone, wherever they are in the world – including Burns scholars, people tracing family roots to Ayrshire and those keen to find out more about Scottish music and folk traditions.
Among the treasures we share online are The First Commonplace Book, a bound copy in one volume, which is jointly owned by the Trust and the National Library of Scotland. This unique book is part of the Blavatnik Honresfield collection, a remarkable library which was saved for the nation in 2021 thanks to the fundraising efforts of a collective of heritage organisations.
‘There are also transcripts of handwriting and audio recordings so that you can hear what a piece of music would have sounded like rather than just seeing the musical annotations,’ says Sarah Beattie, Senior Curator. ‘This gives us opportunities to add multiple layers of information and show items from a variety of angles to let people think about them and look at them differently than they would in person.’
Project Reveal
In the summer of 2017 six separate inventory teams, weighed down with laptops, ladders, labels and cameras, began the painstaking work of cataloguing and photographing all the collections displayed and stored in 47 different National Trust for Scotland properties.
Project Reveal was the biggest digitisation project that we have ever undertaken. Covering properties across Scotland, from Broughton House in Kirkcudbright to Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage in Cromarty, it has provided us with an updated and accurate record of every item in our care.
Project Reveal uncovered some hidden treasures and stories about our collections, and with all the work taking place in full view of visitors, we were able to reveal some of our conservation methods as well.
Morton Photography Project
In many of our properties, and in the central archive in Edinburgh, we hold a vast and eclectic collection of photographic material, including cameras, 35mm slides, paper prints and glass negatives. Images range from sweeping panoramas of Glencoe and the farmlands of Angus to snapshots of daily life in the Western Isles and the Border towns.
In 2014, the Morton Charitable Trust provided the funds for fieldwork centred on our photographic collections. The money helped us to purchase equipment, train staff, digitise collections and invest in volunteers, all with great success. The project resulted in a series of digital exhibitions, highlighting the role of photography in people’s lives.
Did you know?
We look after a number of libraries that together contain more than 80,000 books.
Preserving our collections
Our collections team work with the public to curate and preserve all our artefacts. To make sure our collections have a long and happy life, we take a preventive approach to conservation, where the focus is on preventing any potential damage instead of waiting until we’re forced to fix it.
Of course, different objects – textiles, books, watercolour paintings, footstools, etc – need different kinds of care. Our conservators can clean or arrange for conservation of an object. We also identify the conditions different items need and try to reduce the damage caused by factors such as temperature, humidity and UV light, by putting controls in place and training staff to care for collections through careful cleaning and housekeeping.
Keeping our collections in their original historical setting can make conservation trickier, but it’s worth the extra work.
Take a look at how we clean some of our largest collection items
Synergy: environmental monitoring in the National Trust for Scotland
All of our collections, both on display and in storage, are vulnerable to deterioration from environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, visible light, ultraviolet radiation and pollutants. Proper monitoring is essential to preventive conservation, as we try to maintain the right conditions to preserve the fabric of our buildings and the objects in our collections.
In 2018 we upgraded all 28 of the Trust’s Hanwell telemetric environmental monitoring systems, to make sure they’re fit for purpose. The new Hanwell Synergy system provides live data from over 1,000 sensors for anyone at the Trust who needs to look at conditions in our properties. At the time, this was the largest project in the UK to make up-to-the-minute information available in the heritage sector.
Did you know?
We hold around 120,000 items, such as estate records, personal letters, photo collections and the odd bit of film or audio, in our historical archives. We do our very best to make sure that these archives remain at the properties where they belong, although there are one or two special exceptions.
Acquisition and disposal
As Scotland’s biggest conservation charity, we look after our collections for the people of Scotland.
We work within standard guidelines for museums and galleries, and follow a carefully worded policy on what we’ll accept into the collections. The main focus of our collecting policy is to acquire objects that are directly linked with the properties we care for and the people and stories associated with those properties. Before accepting anything into our collection we ask ourselves: Is this particularly important to our understanding of a time or place? Is it an outstanding example of a certain type of design or craft?
Likewise, when we review our collections, we sometimes need to dispose of objects that don’t meet these criteria. Caring for objects that have no relevance to our properties can be a drain on resources and in these cases we follow a careful disposal policy, transferring objects to other museum collections to keep them available to the public.
Loans and exhibitions
We don’t mind seeing our collections fly the coop every once in a while. Our artefacts and artworks have travelled all around the country and across the world.
We arrange for the lending of items like paintings, sculptures and furniture on a case-by-case basis – sometimes for short-term exhibitions and sometimes for a longer spell. The work involved is complex, and the negotiation and careful planning for packing, transport, insurance and handling is seen to by our own expert registrar.
Did you know?
We look after over 2,000 plates, around 300 teapots and 45 chamber pots.
Professional standards
The Collections Team works to certain strict industry standards. The Museum Accreditation Scheme, the Museum Association’s Code of Ethics and ICON International Conservation Organisation provide organisations like ours with frameworks for good museum practice. We work closely with colleagues across the Trust to share this practice with our partners and our properties.
We have created a series of Collections policies that guide our decisions on how we care for, develop and promote our collections.
Read more about collections
Pests in collections – silverfish
Pests can cause irreversible damage in historical collections. Silverfish are very hard to eradicate, so we keep them in check with integrated pest management programmes.
Collections uncovered: Kellie Castle
Antonia Laurence-Allen, Curator for Edinburgh and East, takes you on a short video tour of Kellie Castle.
Collections Diaries – Part I: Photographs of a Hidden Empire
As the Collections Team return to work, we’re sharing stories that give a behind-the-scenes look at their current projects to preserve Scotland’s history.
Why do we collect shells?
As British summertime ends, we’re beachcombing our collections for shells, to illustrate how a humble home for a sea creature has become a symbol of luxury and power in art and design.