Letter: Blairs’ treasures

Colin McAllister’s cogent letter (7 May) rings true. There seems to be no identifiable advantage in moving the 27,000 Blairs Letters from the National Library of Scotland to the new University Library at Aberdeen.

In the case of the remarkable exhibits of the Blairs Museum (housed in a converted sacristy five miles outside Aberdeen), the paintings associated with the Stuart monarchy, the liturgical vessels and vestments would greatly benefit from a less cramped display and interpretation than a converted sacristy can offer, with openings restricted to weekends and holidays.

Closing the Blairs Museum might bring a tear to the eye of many of the priests who have passed through the portals of Blairs College (now awaiting redevelopment as a hotel, leisure and conference centre).

However, it would also bring a substantial annual saving to the Catholic Church in Scotland.

According to the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator, the annual income of the Blairs Museum Trust is £63,000, some £37,000 less than the £100,000 annual running costs of the Blairs Museum.

The annual visitor numbers for the Blairs Museum are about 2,000 – a figure which the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) is currently exceeding per day.

The forthcoming loan by the Blairs Museum to the SNPG of the Memorial Mary Queen of Scots portrait is therefore a most welcome sign of a step in the right direction. The Scottish Catholic Archives at Drummond Place, Edinburgh, on the other hand, benefit from the support of the Columba Trust and two other benefactions.

These are sufficient to meet its relatively low annual running costs of £50,000, half those of the Blairs Museum, and they are in this location within easy access of the National Library of Scotland and the National Records of Scotland.

As Colin McAllister notes, the financial logic is inescapable.

Michael TRB Turnbull

Orchard Court

Longniddry, East Lothian