Volunteers help to blow dust from historic archives in Fife collection

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For anyone who loves Fife’s rich heritage, it sounds like the perfect opportunity to brush up on some local history.

A group of trained volunteers has been giving archivists from cultural charity OnFife a helping hand to keep precious artefacts dust-free.

The four-strong team is supporting a new project called Dust? Not in our Archive!, which is based at OnFife’s collections centre in Glenrothes.

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The charitable trust has responsibility for more 110,000 items, including over 1,200 works of art, and the archives section looks after documents covering an incredible 500 years of the Kingdom’s history.

A 1794 plan of coal pits midway through the cleaning process, with right-hand side cleaned and the left-hand side shown as it came into the archives. (Pic: OnFife)A 1794 plan of coal pits midway through the cleaning process, with right-hand side cleaned and the left-hand side shown as it came into the archives. (Pic: OnFife)
A 1794 plan of coal pits midway through the cleaning process, with right-hand side cleaned and the left-hand side shown as it came into the archives. (Pic: OnFife)

Brought together by volunteer coordinator Gill Ross, the team has been using brushes and dry sponges made of vulcanised natural rubbers to spruce up items. Taking part over four afternoons have been volunteers Ashleigh Dunsmuir, Edith Hicks, Galen Deane and Natasha Hershaw.

Working with archivists Owen Harrison and Andrew Dowsey, they have cleaned 60 editions of The Poor Law Magazine for Scotland from the late 19th century. The periodicals were published monthly for institutions that were responsible for distributing poor relief – among them Scotland’s network of Parochial Boards.

The team has also worked on a 1794 plan of coal pits near Markinch, an architectural drawing of Glenlomond Sanatorium near Loch Leven and 24 daily report books from the North Carr Light Vessel.

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There has been time too to sweep through two boxes of title deeds linked to the Balfour family’s tenure of Balbirnie estate.

“Cleaning doesn’t just make documents look better and easier to read,” says collections archivist Andrew Dowsey.“If we don't remove surface dirt, then there's a risk it might attract insects or mould spores.

“Our team of volunteers has done a fantastic job and we’re looking forward to welcoming them back soon.”

OnFife offers a range of volunteering opportunities. For example, it is currently seeking volunteers who can help welcome visitors to its Before and After Coal exhibition, which is at Kirkcaldy Galleries until 13 April.

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> The charity is also looking for volunteers to help update the catalogue of its musical instrument library at Lochgelly Centre. Although there is no upper age limit, the minimum age is 18. People can find out more by emailing Gill Ross at [email protected].

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