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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.

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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.

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Search our Archive catalogue Blog Posts

Up Helly Aa - the Venues

January 26th 2022

We’re missing Up Helly Aa again - not just a fire spectacle but a major social event, with dances and performances in many venues in ...

ArchivesHistory

Origins of the Up Helly Aa Song

January 25th 2022

A huge procession of torch-carrying guizers is one of the most spectacular sights of the Shetland year. For anyone who heads out in ...

Museum and Archives NewsArchives

The New Year, 1872 and the Truck Commission

January 5th 2022

The New Year of 1872 began in a special way in Shetland. On the first of January Sheriff William Guthrie began hearings in the Queens ...

ArchivesMuseum and Archives News

Accounts with Women Labourers

November 10th 2021

Thomas Hardy, probably the Victorian novelist most familiar with the grit of rural life, described the work of his agricultural ...

Archives

Floss

August 5th 2021

The second Covid Summer hasn’t been as good as the first. Not cold, but overcast, foggy, misty and moist, with the warm and watered ...

Archives

The Fenian Raid on Unst

June 10th 2021

Shetlanders have long enjoyed jokes, pranks, and hoaxes, aka “plunkies.” Sometimes these have stretched to include British ...

Archives

The real story behind the Shetland wulver

May 18th 2021

In recent years there has been a lot of discussion about the ‘wulver’, Shetland’s ‘kind and generous werewolf’, as someone ...

ArchivesHistory

Witchcraft in Shetland

May 11th 2021

Between around 1615 and 1680 Shetland was afflicted by a mania that was disturbing other parts of Europe. Ordinary Shetlanders and ...

Archives

Shetland Footballer - James Hunter Thomson

April 27th 2021

James Hunter Thomson came from Deepdale (born 1884). There isn’t much that comes from Deepdale now. Uninhabited lang syne, you get ...

ArchivesHistory

The Bohemian Girl

March 15th 2021

In 1843 White’s, a firm of Quaker shipbuilders, launched a schooner, 125 tons, 104ft x 22.5ft x 12ft, the Bohemian Girl.

HistoryArchives

Celebrating International Women's Day: Britta Laurenson

March 8th 2021

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Here Jenny ...

Museum and Archives NewsArchivesHistory

Get Your Skates On!

February 24th 2021

The weather has changed, the temperature risen, wind and rain are back, the frosty winter fun gone. In 1909 though, one organisation ...

HistoryMuseum and Archives NewsArchives

St Sunniva's Tableware

February 11th 2021

The pandemic meant no cruise liners came to Lerwick, but not many Shetlanders realise that an important one lies on the seabed at ...

Museum and Archives NewsArchivesHistory

Winter Sports

February 11th 2021

We’ve had a fine spell of weather of late, snowy, frosty, crispy. Out for a walk one day I was told someone had been spotted skiing, ...

HistoryArchives

Northwest Passage

February 8th 2021

On the 26th of June 1576, three ships anchored near St Ninian’s Isle. These were the Gabriel, a twenty-five tonne barque, the ...

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