The Business Archives Surveying Officer is delighted to announce their involvement as a part-time project archivist for the Scottish Women’s Institutes heritage project, ‘Preserving the Past to Inspire the Future’. The project was awarded a £127,175 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to protect and conserve its nationally significant archive and collection, and will run from November 2024-November 2026.
The Scottish Women’s Institutes archive is an unrivalled record of women’s role in Scottish society since 1917, illustrating their place at the heart of Scottish communities, their emerging voice and decision-making skills, and their key part in keeping Scottish crafting and cultural traditions alive. The funding will support work required to conserve thousands of items in SWI’s care including exquisite, handcrafted items, documents illustrating how women made decisions previously considered a man’s domain, photographs and Royal correspondence. It will also enable the SWI to provide volunteers with training to collect a series of oral histories from current members to ensure recent history from our communities across Scotland is preserved.
Kiara King, Director of the Ballast Trust said:
The Ballast Trust congratulates the Scottish Women’s Institutes on their successful heritage fund grant. We’ve been pleased to provide space for the collection and host SWI volunteers in 2024 and we look forward to continuing to work with the SWI and its members through the work of our surveying officer in 2025 and beyond.
A thanks to National Lottery players and all involved.
Access to the archive:
The collection is currently stored at The Ballast Trust in Johnstone and is undergoing cataloguing, so access is limited. Further updates on wider access to the collection will be provided in the due course. For any enquiries relating to the archive, please contact the Surveying Officer: https://surveyingofficer.co.uk/contact/
Background:
The origins of the Scottish Women’s Institutes (SWI) can be traced back to 1917, with the first Women’s Institute established in Longniddry, East Lothian. The organisation works to promote education and connect women locally and across the country. Formerly known as the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute, the charity had a specific focus on traditional and rural communities, and produced a regular magazine ‘Scottish Home & Country’, as well as hosting theatrical and musical performances, and various network events.
It has since expanded to accommodate communities outside of the rural lifestyle and aims to improve the quality of life for women through friendship and education. Having celebrated its centenary in 2017, the SWI now has 29 Federations, 500 active groups, and a membership of more than 8,600 women across the country.
The Business Archives Surveying Officer for Scotland was invited to the Headquarters of the SWI in July 2023, to undertake a survey and assessment of the charity’s archive prior to their office relocation in September 2023. Following the survey, further assistance was provided to secure a grant from the UK National Archives Records-at-Risk fund. This grant enabled the collection to be temporarily stored at the Ballast Trust for two years due to the urgent need to vacate its current premises. To-date the Surveying Officer has been able to undertake initial processing and cataloguing of the collection supported by the SWI, which will now continue as part of this larger heritage project to increase access and engagement to the SWIs history.