Museum blog

Charles Burns, an artist who specialises in silhouettes, shares the history of this fascinating art form.

Across the museum’s collections can be found various objects and items related to the exploits of the renowned canoeist John MacGregor (1825-1892). However, our archives contain a small collection of manuscripts documenting his escape as a baby from a burning ship, the Kent.

Papers relating to Rear-Admiral James Francis Ballard Wainwright (1820-1872) shed light on a notable event at Bermuda 150 years ago

Among the manuscripts held by the Caird Library and Archive is a file containing Lieutenant John Harvey Boteler’s observations of the Battle of Navarino. However his account contains much more information than simple notes on his role.

“If, by repeated efforts, you find the index [of the theodolite] will not return to zero after taking a round of angles…unscrew the instrument from its tripod and replace it in the box, close the lid firmly, then gently roll the box one hundred yards or so down the hill side…”  

Forty years ago, the attack on the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior and the death of photographer Fernando Pereira caused international outrage.

James Creassy’s journal (Item ID: JOD/304) is over 300 pages long and written in perfectly legible handwriting – a rare find for material from 1777! He does not say why he is travelling to Bengal, but records in detail the entertaining, dramatic and sometimes rather distressing events that take place during the journey.