BY Martin Dunlop | October 5 2012 | 
2 COMMENTS 
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Historic deal for archive
Publication Date: 2012-10-05
The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland has formally signed a loan agreement with Aberdeen University to transfer part of the historic archive of the Catholic Church in Scotland from its present home in Columba House, Edinburgh to the university’s new library.
The agreement was announced this week and took place through the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland’s Heritage Collections Trust. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, was present when Professor Ian Diamond, principal of Aberdeen University (above, inset), signed the agreement in Aberdeen on September 24, the day that the new library was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
“I was delighted to represent the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland at the signing of this important agreement between the Catholic Bishops and the University of Aberdeen and I am certain that the University of Aberdeen will ensure the best care and availability of these ancient documents,” the cardinal said. “I am enormously impressed at the way ancient manuscripts already in the care of the university are being cared for and conserved. I am in no doubt that exactly such care will be taken of the Catholic archives, which are so important in telling the story of the Church in Scotland.”
Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti of Glasgow, president of the Bishops’ Heritage Commission, said that he was ‘very relieved that such a fitting solution has been found to the problem first raised over ten years ago of inadequate facilities at Columba House in Edinburgh.’
“The bishops have always been keenly aware of our obligations to ensure the archive is stored as best possible and made available to scholars and members of the public,” the archbishop said. “The offer from the University of Aberdeen to house the collection was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The archbishop added that ‘no one can fail to be impressed by the facilities available for the storage of our archive.’
“They are spacious, offer enhanced accessibility, provide state of the art specialist lighting and temperature controls, security cameras, restoration facilities and many more advantages which we could never hope to replicate in Columba House,” he said. “I am particularly grateful for the enthusiasm shown by the university administration not only to house the collection but to proceed to digitisation, thus making it available more widely than ever.”
PIC: PAUL McSHERRY
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Congratulations! Yes, so much will depend on Digitisation – scanning the precious documents. When will it start, how long will it take to scan the 1 million Historic Archives and has the funding been set up for this £2 million operation. I very much hope so. When it is completed it will form a wonderful resource. The article speaks of ‘part of the historic archive’. It will be essential for a guide to the collections to be published, with details of where each collection will in future be located, so that scholars can plan their journeys effectively between Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and the other diocesan archival centres.
A disappointing decision. I did not even get acknowledge of my letter of 15 August 2012 to the Cardinal with copies to Bishop Robson and the Secretary of the Scottish Bishops Conference.