First Visit to Kelso Library
On Friday, we met with the staff at Kelso Library to discuss future exhibitions as part of a rolling programme to make the Kelso Archive accessible for a wider audience. Our colleagues at Duns Museum are also involved in the project, which highlights the strengths of local partnership working.
The Kelso Archive Collection is one of the most important held at the Hub. It provides a unique insight into life and business in a Scottish burgh in the eighteenth century. The collection was saved from being sent to the United States by a fundraising partnership between Scottish Borders Council, Heritage Lottery Fund, National Fund for Acquisitions and the local community.
The collection derived from a firm of writers in Kelso, originally belonging to John William & William Smith, later known as Smith and Robson of Bridge Street, Kelso. The papers relate to estates and businesses, local politics, the ‘Kelso Mail’, the Cross Keys Hotel, turnpikes, railways, the poor, local militia, police, the fire brigade, and the French prisoners of war quartered in the town 1810-1817 - thus providing a unique insight into life in Kelso over a 100-year period. C.1750 to 1850.
The librarian kindly provided a guided tour of the facility, which has a lovely community feel to it. Highlights were the fantastic wall mural, created by local schoolchildren and Friends of the Kelso Library, and the reading garden! We’re looking forward to continuing our work on Kelso Archive exhibitions together -Watch this space!
Posted by: Keith
