There in black and white – Edinburgh celebrates status as printing mecca

• A Linotype operator sits amid the giant machines that were used to produce newpapers in the last century. Such equipment will form part of the collection.

The first proper archive charting the rise and fall of an industry that supported more than 7,000 jobs in the city at its peak has been created following more than nine years of intensive research.

Thousands of documents, photographs, books, artworks, company records, and even old machinery have been brought together for the "City of Print" collection.

Archive film and newly recorded material from former print-workers is available through the website – www.edinburghcityofprint.org – and via other sites including YouTube.

The archive charts the entire history of the trade, from its origins in 1507 when King James IV awarded Scotland's first printing patent to Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar for a press in the Cowgate, to the present-day success of publishers such as Mainstream and Canongate.

Major players celebrated include book publisher Nelsons, Bartholomews the mapmakers, bookbinding firm Hunter & Foulis, and publishing pioneers such as Allan Ramsay, Gavin Hamilton, William Creech and William Smellie.

The archive reveals how Scotland's capital led the way in the production of not just books but also newspapers, journals, diaries, calendars, greetings cards, wrapping paper and stationery.

Although the number of people employed by printing and publishing firms more than doubled from about 3,000 in 1861 to 7,000 in 1961, after that peak came swift decline, partly due to the advent of new technology and a slump in demand for traditional printing methods.

The City of Print campaign, which is being promoted at museums, libraries and arts centres in the capital, is the result of a major collaboration between the city council, and the city's Napier and Queen Margaret universities.

The lead researcher on the project, Sarah Bromage, said: "Printing and publishing was one of the major employers in Edinburgh for a long, long time, but there's never been a proper archive of the industry until now.

"This project has brought together all the material that the council held as well as other records and equipment that we could find, or had donated, when we were working on the project.

"There isn't any kind of printing or publishing museum in the city so the website is really the only place you can go to find out about this important industry."

Helen Clark, special projects manager at the council's museums section, said: "Although we held a number of important archives at the time, the city did not start properly collecting any printing or publishing material until 1985 in the run-up to the People's Story Museum opening.

"We've actually managed to collect quite a lot of the old machinery and equipment that fell out of use. This archive gives people a chance to see a lot of it for the first time, as well as photographs and archive film."