History and culture of city goes online

Published on Saturday 16 February 2008 10:15

RARE archives chronicling the history, life and culture of Edinburgh are to be made available online for the first time this month.

Documents from the Edinburgh Room in the Central Library, the first local studies department in the country, have been digitised as part of an 18,000 project.

Around 1000 watercolours, sketches, drawings, and photographs from the collection will be showcased on the new site – www.capitalcollections.org.uk.

Among the features will be an online exhibition illustrating the key features of both the Old and New Town World Heritage Site.

Other highlights include photographic surveys from the 1850s to the early 1900s, which provide a snapshot of areas such as the Cowgate.

David Hicks, of Edinburgh World Heritage said: "Anyone will now be able to explore this fascinating archive and see for themselves how Edinburgh has developed but retained its historic character."

City libraries leader Deidre Brock said today: "Long gone are the days when libraries were simply about borrowing books – we are modernising, digitising and reaching out to the wider world."