Library & Archive blog

Take a closer look at the hairy diary of a sailor involved in one of the search expeditions to find Sir John Franklin and his crew.

In this bicentennial year of the modern railway, we take the opportunity to explore some railway connections in the Caird Library and Archive.

Learn more about the afterlives of slaving vessels with Caird Research Fellow Dr Richard Anderson

Learn about Dr Nina Baker’s struggle to become one of the first women navigation officers in the British Merchant Navy

For many, Charles Dickens is synonymous with Christmas jollity. However, there was a darker side to Dickens’ work. Not only did he repeatedly refer in his novels and articles to the contemporary filth of the Thames, which culminated in the Great Stink crisis of 1858, he was also actively involved in kick-starting the reform programmes to resolve the issue.

This month we take a look at an item from the Historical Records Collection of the Caird Library and Archive: the Instrument of Surrender of the Japanese forces at Hong Kong.

In this blog we look at the role and experiences of Royal Navy chaplains and what their accounts can tell us about shipboard life.