26 Treasures: An in-depth look at a historical project with a difference

Capture an object in just 62 words...that’s the task set for writers in a fascinating new project, finds Lee Randall

LAST YEAR London’s V&A museum teamed up with 26, an association of wordsmiths, to create the 26 Treasures project, teaming writers with objects in the museum’s permanent collection and asking them to write just 62 words, in any format, to capture the object’s essence. This year that project’s been rolled out nationally, with 26 Treasures taking place at the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, and at the Ulster Museum, in Belfast. Curators here in Scotland chose 26 objects from their galleries, which together trace Scotland’s history from its ancient geological roots to its technological future. Some are iconic, others less well-known, but all have a story to tell.

Novelist Sara Sheridan is project co-ordinator for 26 Treasures Scotland, and along with author Jamie Jauncey, has been a driving force in rolling out the project north of Hadrian’s Wall. She explains: “Our history is more flexible than it’s traditionally believed to be. Writers have a unique set of skills when it comes to communicating history. The essence of writing is storytelling, no matter what kind of writer you are. You might tell stories through the medium of fiction or poetry or drama or facts. 26 Treasures applies those skills to historical objects – it’s a non-traditional way in to where we came from.”

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Jauncey also celebrates the project’s inclusiveness. “The great thing about [the writers’ collective, 26, is that, unusually for the world of writing, it makes no distinctions. It brings together novelists, poets, copywriters, business writers, screenwriters, corporate communicators, marketeers – anyone with an interest in the way we use language at work. And these big creative projects, like 26 Treasures, offer everyone a shot in the arm, a chance to write something completely different from their day-to-day work. ”

What is 26?

• 26, launched in 2003, is a diverse group of people who share a love of words, and believe their potential is hugely underestimated.

• Many members of the organisation work with words for a living, as writers, language specialists, editors, designers or publishers, but anyone who cares about words is welcome to join.

• The name 26 was chosen because there are 26 letters in the alphabet – the DNA of language.

• The group, a not-for-profit organisation, hopes to show how experienced and imaginative writers can find new and credible ways to engage their audiences and open hearts and minds to the wonderful diversity of writing.

• It has hosted evening events, covering everything from business writing to poetry, published books, staged ambitious exhibitions, and forged creative alliances with other like-minded organisations. 26 now has hundreds of members – who pay an annual subscription of £26.

Here are just a few of the wonderful 26 Treasures entries. For details about the project visit www.26treasures.com. For information about the 26 Treasures launch on 3 December, and related events in January, visit: www.nms.ac.uk

Cramond Lioness/Stephen Potts

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• The children’s author and screen-writer chose a Roman-era sculpture recovered in 1997 from the mouth of the River Almond at Cramond, Edinburgh. Depicting a bound prisoner being killed by a lioness, it is thought to have been part of the tomb of a Roman military commander and is connected to the nearby Cramond Roman Fort.

Behold my death

I finally meet my maker, silent among the arena crowd. Once exiled northward, his hands will petrify me - and my merciful lioness - into a monument fiercely muscular, in the custom of this cursed Rome.

And if upsucked from Pictish ooze, two million tides hence, to face your many questions, I raise now only one.

Here’s my distant death: who will behold yours?

Lewis Chessmen/V. Campbell

• The historical novelist, who writes for Young adults, chose the chess figures named after the island where they were found. The pieces are a group of 78 12th-century chess pieces discovered in the Outer Hebrides in 1831.

Waiting

Berserker:        “I’m bored – what are we waiting for?”

King:                “Till the time is right.”

Queen:             “Don’t listen to him – he can never make up his mind.”

Berserker:        “But we’ve been waiting so long…”

King:                “You lead the charge, then.”

Berserker:        “Will you follow?”

Queen:             “Ha – I’ve never seen him get off his bum!”

King:                “I will come … when the time is right…”

The Maiden/James Robertson

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• Award-winning Scots writer and poet James Robertson selected the lethal instrument of death, the Maiden. This early form of gullotine was used for almost 150 years in Edinburgh – its first execution is thought to be 1565.

The Maiden tae her Maister

Pit yir face atween ma knees.

Ach noo, dinna greet.

Daith is but a blink,

And yir name fae the leet.

D’ye mind me, yir ain lass?

Aik, iron, leid,

And a cauld, keen tung

Tae sned yir silly heid.

Steek yir een ticht,

And guess whit I will gie:

A kiss – and that is mair

Nor ye ever gied tae me.

Glossary: greet: cry; leet: list; aik: oak; leid: lead; sned: cut off; steek yir een: close your eyes

Bute Mazer/Elspeth Murray

• Scots poet Elspeth Murray chose the Bute Mazer. This vessel is a medieval communal feasting cup, and dates from around 1320. The oldest Scottish mazer still surviving, the cup has long been associated with the Isle of Bute, on the west coast of Scotland.

Scotland Cheers

with beers

whisky water

wine

absent friends

and new

arrivals

forming our

own shared

vessels

minding all

that went

before

healing heroes

and hidden

helpers

spirited leaders

believers and

doubters

wilderness our

seas our

skies

forest floor

to mountain

peak

the sense

of coming

home

your team

you and

yours

with pipes

and with

drums

the art of

breaking

free

Alexander Peden’s mask and wig/Fiona Thompson

• Fiona Thompson is a copywriter involved in the 26 Treasures project. Discovered in the 1840s, the mask was used by the Reverend Alexander Peden, a 17th century Ayrshire minister. A leading figure in the Covenanting movement – a Presbyterian religious group – he was persecuted throughout his life for his beliefs. The minister used the mask as a disguise when preaching at illegal outdoor services.

The better to see you with, my dear

Come closer, I won’t bite. My teeth aren’t what they used to be when the preacher’s words hurricaned across the keening Ayrshire hillsides. Never mind my gashed sockets and spiked feathers lashed with blood-red stitches. I aim to disguise, not terrorise. Once my beard flamed bright; now it’s a patched up shadow. My colours have faded but the minister’s conviction still blazes.

Hilton of Cadboll Stone/Alexander McCall Smith

• Best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith’s choice is a Pictish stone believed to have been carved around AD800. It was discovered on the Tarbat Peninsula in Easter Ross, and contains a Christian cross and hunting scenes. The skilfully-carved Pictic symbols are unique to the early Scotland and as such remain indecipherable.

What these symbols mean is unclear: the language of that time is lost - just as our language will be lost too. But it still speaks to us, this stone, across more than a thousand years; and for a moment we are part of that mounted hunting party, with dogs at the feet of our horses and trumpets sounding. Listen; hear them.

Arthur’s Seat Miniature Coffins/Ronnie Mackintosh

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• Ronnie Mackintosh, a Scottish screenwriter and dramatist, and a former police officer with Lothian and Borders Police, chose the 17 miniature coffins found hidden inside a cave in 1836 by a group of young boys. Their meaning unclear, each coffin, just 95mm in length, contains a carved wooden figure, with painted black boots and custom-made clothes.

A Decent Burial int.. Edinburgh Room/1835 – Night

By lamplight

the BOY plays

with his shiny, new, wooden soldiers.

At the table, his FATHER

cuts into another small block of wood.

The Boy’s MOTHER smiles at them,

and with care, lays an old, battle-weary Infantryman, its paint long-since faded, against a swatch.

Beneath the table,

their half-packed trunk,

labelled

THE MARGARET BOGLE

LEITH / NEW YORK

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