The Bulletin newsletter you’re currently reading has long been a key way to keep University staff up to date with news across our community.
Starting out as a magazine, it’s now a digital publication that drops into the inboxes of more than 18,000 colleagues.
University Records Archivist, Grant Buttars, tells Bulletin it was first established in 1964. It succeeded the ‘University of Edinburgh Gazette’, which had been running since 1952.
The University’s Cultural Heritage Digitisation Service (CHDS) recently carried out a project to digitalise old physical volumes of Bulletin held by Heritage Collections. This covers the period 1964 – 2002, providing readers with a time capsule of how the University has changed over a 40-year period.
The digitisation process
Miranda Strachan, Digitisation Operator, scanned old copies in the CHDS studio at the Main Library. These images have been archived and so 4,500 scans and nearly 9,000 pages of University news can now be explored:
How the collection is being used
This archive has already been used by a number of student and staff-led projects, from exploring LGBTQ+ student experiences for a dedicated exhibition, to researching past stories for the Edinburgh Medical School’s 300th anniversary celebrations.
Rachel Hosker, University Archivist and Research Collections Manager, said:
“This special archive will give staff, students, alumni and the general public the opportunity to explore the people and events that have contributed to how the University has developed over time. We hope the project will provide a valuable source for academic research that offers cultural, social and political insights that were previously not available.
“The project has also provided students with experience of researching with the Heritage Collection team when we invite them to participate in ‘archiveathon’ days. It’s been a massive team effort!”
Spot the difference?
In the earliest issues of Bulletin, regular updates can be found around the many building and modernisation projects undertaken from the 1960s onwards. This includes the installation of an early computer in 1966 and the opening of the Main Library in 1967. This photograph from the 1970s doesn’t look all that different from the view you can see today approaching the Main Library in George Square:
A very similar view can be seen in a more recent image here:
Looking to the past
Bulletin regularly featured articles on the history of the University, its collections and alumni. In 1983, the University celebrated its 400th anniversary with a series of commemorative events, tours and talks:
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