Search our Archive catalogue

Manuscripts, books, oral history recordings, maps and more

We have an extensive online archive of Shetland's records. Browse the Shetland Archives Catalogue and discover our collection of manuscripts, books, oral history recordings, maps and many other types of material held by us.


Now more than ever we need your support

We hope you enjoy our free online activities. The Shetland Museum and Archives is managed by the Shetland Amenity Trust, a small charity caring for Shetland's natural and cultural heritage. We are a free to visit museum and any donations are welcomed to help the Trust care for the collections and our heritage both now and in the future.

Other ways to support us include...


Search our Archive catalogue Blog Posts

Memories from the archives

Grace Leask (née Mouat) shared her memories of time spent as a gutter lass in Shetland.

Read more

Celebrating World Book Day with Shetland's Oldest Known Book - Boece

For anyone who wants to read about Shetland, the archives is a good place to come.  Our book collection, we like to think, is perhaps ...

Read more

Love letters from the past

Since we’ve got to St Valentine’s Day the time has come to consider the Shetland Archives holdings on the subject of love. Do we ...

Read more

Remembering George P.S. Peterson

George P.S. Peterson died recently at the age of 90. He was a notable archival source, teacher, writer, storyteller, folk dancer, and ...

Read more

Robert Barclay, East India Company

The Bruce of Symbister collection in the Shetland Archives, GD144, is a collection of bundled papers. Since it isn’t feasible to ...

Read more

Alexander Wallace

A very welcome book came out recently. Developed from a Ph.D., 'Shetland Boats: Origin, Evolution and Use', by Dr Marc Chivers ...

Read more

Archivist Brian Smith receives distinguished service award

We’re delighted that Brian Smith’s dedication to Shetland’s historical records has been recognised with a distinguished service ...

Read more

The Elvira

Stories of shipwreck have long occupied the Shetland imagination. One Shetlander, R. Stuart Bruce (1873-1951), devoted much of his ...

Read more

Da Wadder

The weather is never far from conversation here, and it hasn’t been a great summer. Some good days though, and on July 19 the ...

Read more

The Laurel

The Shetland Times, 12 October 1907 reported an important event at the Ness. Harry Irvine of Glenfield got a Fifie fishing boat, the ...

Read more

Letters on Shetland

I got a book in the post the other day, always a good thing. 'Letters on Shetland' by Peter Jamieson (1898-1976), published in 1949 ...

Read more

World Book Day

On World Book Day, it is worth musing about the history of library collections in Shetland. There have been highs and lows in the ...

Read more

550 Years Ago: how Shetland became part of Scotland - part 2

Shetland and Orkney became part of Scotland 550 years ago, on 20 February 1472. Denmark’s economic interests were concentrated in ...

Read more

A reminiscence of a traditional Shetland wedding

When lockdown came, one of our first sad tasks was to tell two couples who’d planned a wedding in the museum that it couldn’t ...

Read more

550 Years Ago: how Shetland became part of Scotland

A fortnight ago some women and men from the South Mainland of Shetland marched in Glasgow with torches. They were commemorating the ...

Read more