Events
Shetland Museum and Archives are proud to offer a range of events for adults, children and famlies, covering a variety of themes throughout the year. Our own events are detailed below, or see the 'What's On' Calendar for all public events and exhibition listings for the building.
Click on the 'What's On Calendar' above to view monthly listings
For online bookings visit Shetland Museum Box Office
Tour: Shetland's Textile Treasures
Shetland Museum & Archives
Running every Thursday afternoon. Hear the story of Shetland’s famous textile industry and knitting history. Now a collection of national significance, you’ll get the chance to learn more about the lace and Fair Isle knitwear we have on display and the importance of this industry to Shetland.
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Tour: The History of Hay's Dock
Shetland Museum & Archives
Running every Saturday afternoon. Learn all about the area surrounding Shetland Museum and Archives, known as Hay’s Dock. For such a small dock area it highlights much of the changes over time to Shetland’s commercial maritime past. You’ll learn about some of the boats, built in the boat-sheds which remain on site, and take a look at the history of some other ventures based at the dock too.
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Tour: Highlights of Shetland Museum
Shetland Museum & Archives
Running every Monday afternoon. A potted history of Shetland in the 19th century and find out more about some of our key artefacts along the way. It’s the perfect place to start as a general introduction to our collections.
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Tour: Shetland's Crofting Past
Shetland Museum & Archives
Running every Tuesday afternoon: Learn all about Shetland’s crofting past and our native breeds. Built on a necessity to survive in our harsh climate, you’ll take a look back at the life of most rural Shetlanders in the 17th and 18th century and the importance of land, animals and local ingenuity to survive.
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Summer Family Fun Days
10:00am - 2:00pm
Throughout the Museum
Drop along to our free themed family activity days. Each session will celebrate a different area within our collection including maritime, crofting and storytelling.
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Crofthouse Museum Family Fun Day
11:00am - 3:00pm
Crofthouse Museum, Dunrossness
Join us at the 19th century crofthouse museum for a day of fun, crafts, storytelling, history, nature and much more!
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Night by the Fire - Music & Stories at the Crofthouse Museum
Crofthouse Museum
Step back in time as you enter a traditional 19th century thatched crofthouse to recreate Shetland’s past in a special ‘in aboot da night’. One of our custodians will light the fire and ‘hand doon da fiddle’ to a local musician who will play a range of traditional tunes along with a few stories and yarns along the way.
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Tour of the Shetland Museum Archives
2:00pm - 3:00pm
Shetland Archives
A rare opportunity to see behind the scenes in the Shetland Archives. Guided by one of our archivists, you will be able to look at some unique and unusual documents from Shetland’s past.
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TALK: Broon water, white water, strippit water: uproar in Lerwick Town Council, 1932-1936
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Shetland Museum and Archives
One day in 1932 a science teacher at the Anderson Institute presided over a routine experiment in his class. The results turned politics in Lerwick upside down for four year. Labour councillors (the ‘White Water’ group) and the so-called Ratepayers’ Association (‘Brown Water’) were at each others’ throats for years on the subject. ‘Strippit Water’ was a crazy compromise for a while! The Sandy Loch water controversy is forgotten now, but in the early thirties it was all that Lerwegians could think about. Join our archivist, Brian Smith, as he uncovers the political unrest caused by the most unlikely of sources!
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