The team are based across multiple sites including the Main Library, and they are responsible for preserving, providing access to and interpreting the heritage collections that are looked after by the University.
From art to music, printed books and manuscripts, the team actively collect and document heritage from past, present and future. They are a unique and interdisciplinary team that collaborate on research, teaching and civic engagement.
What’s coming up?
Rooting: Ecology, Extraction & Environmental Emergency in the University’s Art Collections
24 January to 15 November 2025
Main Library Exhibition Gallery, George Square, Monday to Saturday, 10am-6pm
Taking the University’s 350-year-old Art Collection as its focus, the exhibition features historic and contemporary artworks that consider environment, ecology, as well as the entangled relationship between economic and colonial legacies and the climate crisis. The display showcases a range of artforms by more than 30 different artists acquired by the University and currently used to support and enhance research and learning.
As part of the institution’s cultural heritage, the artworks displayed in the exhibition will highlight the University’s histories in relation to these topics, as well as offering reflections on the urgency for individual and collective action.
‘Rooting’ is being delivered in collaboration with the University’s Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability (SRS) and will highlight ongoing activity across the University to create a more sustainable future through research, teaching, operations and people.
New online exhibition: Rewriting the Script
Part of the ‘Esther Inglis 2024’ project within Heritage Collections, this exhibition celebrates the life and work of Esther Inglis (c.1570-1624), a remarkable calligrapher who lived in Edinburgh in the time of King James VI/I. The daughter of French Protestant refugees, she grew up in Edinburgh to become the finest writer in the kingdom. Across her life she made intricate and often-miniature manuscripts, beautifully decorated and sometimes written in as many as forty different scripts — and she gave these books as gifts to people who she hoped would become her patrons.
Curated by Anna-Nadine Pike, this exhibition tells Esther Inglis’ story through over half of her 60 surviving manuscripts, many of which have been newly-digitised for this project. Grounded within the latest academic research, ‘Rewriting the Script’ celebrates the diversity of Esther Inglis’ skills and identity, presenting her as a scribe, artist, author, mother, and a truly exceptional Jacobean woman.
Visit this exhibition online: