World won't forget Scotland's rich past

THEY tell the stories of a Scotland long gone but not quite forgotten.Now some of the country's most precious cultural items documenting Scotland's history have been chosen as part of an international project to promote and preserve the world's heritage.

• National Library of Scotland's Helen Vincent holds Scotland's oldest book, The Complaint of the Black Knight, which will be included in the Unesco register. Picture: PA

From maps used to create the first atlas of Scotland to film footage of life on the island of St Kilda before it was abandoned by its inhabitants, the documents have been chosen by Unesco to become part of its Memory of the World Register.

Ten documents from the UK, four of them from Scotland, will be included in the project and made available on a website from today.

The other Scottish treasures, all currently in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, are the earliest dated surviving book printed in Scotland - The Complaint of the Black Knight by John Lydgate - and the Darien Papers outlining Scotland's doomed attempts to establish an overseas empire in South America.

They will join the Charter of King William I, records of the Women's Voluntary Services from 1938 to 1992, reports on payments issued following the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 and a film of former prime minister David Lloyd George from 1918 on the register.

Martyn Wade, the library's chief executive, said: "To have one artefact included in the Unesco Memory of the World Programme would have been very exciting. To have four is beyond our greatest expectations and truly endorses the quality of our archives here in Edinburgh.

"I am confident that this endorsement from Unesco will both strengthen our appeal here in Scotland and establish us internationally."

Robin Smith, one of the library's curators, said: "We started off with a list of around 40 to 60 items which was whittled down to five to be considered by Unesco. We have millions of items here and lots of rich collections. But we wanted to identify and put forward those which were iconic and which really linked into major events in Scotland's history.

"The ones which have been chosen are all unique and that makes them irreplaceable."

However, Professor James Hunter, director of the University of the Highland and Islands centre for history, said the library's choices of artefacts appeared to have focused on Scotland's "doom laden" past.

"I realise they had an impossible task and I have no real quarrel with any of them. But by way of reservation I would say there is a tendency about the choices to play into the notion of Scotland having a sad and difficult past.

"Yes, the St Kilda footage is good but it is about demise and the idea that islands by their location are deemed remote and forever seen by those who do not live on them to be on the periphery of life.

"Then there is the Darien scheme, not one of our glittering successes.

Again it throws up this notion of reflecting on difficulties instead of including some of the more positive achievements.

"I would have thought it would have been a good idea to have included something about the launch of the Queen Mary or the QE2 on Clydeside, both of which are indicative of the triumph of Scottish engineering. The Forth Bridge would have been a good choice too, for similar reasons."

Established earlier this year, the UK Memory of the World aims to draw attention to historically-significant documents that often survive unnoticed.

David Dawson, chair of the UK body, said: "We were incredibly impressed by the diversity and richness of the first nominations to the register.

"Given the UK's rich documentary history, I'm sure these winners are just the tip of the iceberg. We hope this will encourage more people to get involved with their local archives and museums.".