SSS Core Collections
The core collections include audio recordings and some video. The main fieldwork collection comprises recordings made by staff,
students and associates of the School of Scottish Studies. There are also recordings of seminars and radio broadcasts
(SA/M) and a collection of commercial discs and publications. Different formats have been used including open reel, minidisc,
DAT, born digital (SA), cassette (SC) disc (SD) and video (VA). Student projects are also listed including those studying Scottish
Ethnology who undertook fieldwork as part of their course and donated projects. There is a separate listing of theses which
is not yet available online.
The SSS Collection contains material gathered as part of its remit to collect and create an archive of oral tradition. This mainly comprises
field recordings of songs, tales, folklore, local history, biography and descriptions of cultural life but also includes edited material -
seminars, broadcasts, and publications. Audio recordings from the Scottish Place-name Survey and the Linguistic Survey of Scotland (Gaelic and Scots)
which worked alongside the School are also included.
School of Scottish Studies series:
Prefixes for SSSA Reference Number: SA/SF/SM/SX/SC/SD/VA/PROJ/CIM PN/LSS/GLS/
Most of the recordings are listed on a ‘whole tape’ basis. Track listings are also available for some of the SA series
of fieldwork recordings (MNDX DB)
Place-name Survey
Audio recordings made as part of the Place-Name Survey of Scotland
Linguistic Survey of Scotland
Audio recordings were made as made as part of the Linguistic Survey of Scotland. There are two streams Gaelic (GLS)
and Scots (LSS). Some track listings are available for the Scots recordings.
Donated collections comprise a variety of recordings including oral history projects from various parts of Scotland,
projects by individual researchers, individual music collections, recordings from folk clubs and sessions and some
broadcast material.Prefixes for other collections: PC/GM/Levy (discs)/WF/EADisc/EAtape/ GL/SLH/IM/DOHP/DHW/KIC/L/
If you do not find what you are looking for here, please ask staff for assistance.
Gus MacDonald Collection (GM)
Music Hall 78s donated by Gus MacDonald
Frank Bruce Collection (FB)
Music hall 78s, particularly comedy, donated by Frank Bruce
William Henderson Collection (WH)
78 discs of Scottish music and song, particularly dance music
John Levy Collection (JL/Disc)
Commercial recordings and some BBC programmes of traditional and folk music from around the world, though mainly Asia, collected by John Lev
Will Forrett Collection (WF)
Commercial recordings (LPs, 78s, ’45s) of folk and traditional music, mainly Scottish, collected by Will Forrett
Edgar Ashton Collection
Commercial recordings (LPs, 78s, ’45s) mainly folk and traditional music (EA/Disc)
Recordings made in folk clubs, at sessions and off-air broadcasts (EA/Tape)
Peter Cooke Collection
Fieldwork recordings of music and song from India (PC/IN) and Uganda (PC/UG). Track listings are available for these (MNDX DB).
Ken Sykora Collection
Interviews undertaken for BBC Radio Scotland programme Eaters Digest (KS)
Ian MacDougall Collection
Reminiscences of conscientious objectors, Spanish Civil War veterans, miners, the General Strike (IM)
Scottish Labour History Society
Recordings of working people’s oral history in South East Scotland made as part of an MSC project 1983-5.
Dundee Oral History Project
Recordings from the Dundee Oral History Project (not digitised) (DOHP)
Dundee History Workshop
Recordings made as part of an MSC project in 1985 supervised by Graham Smith (not digitised) (DHW)
Kirkmaiden Information Centre
Recordings made by as part of Kirkmaiden oral history project (KIC)
Luing Oral History Project
Recordings made in Luing (L)
Pete Smith Collection
Recordings made in Cellardyke, Fife by Pete Smith (PS)
RKS Macaulay Collection
Interviews undertaken with schoolchildren as part of a study of Glasgow dialects (RKSM)
Glengarnock Oral History Project
Interviews with steel workers as part of an MSC project sponsored by the British Steel Corporation looking at life and work in a steel-working district (GL)