Today’s item of interest is not from the Waddington collection, which is still being catalogued, although it is indirectly related to him. This trophy, now rather affectionately called by us “the Pigs’ Cup”, was awarded to the Institute of Animal Genetics in 1933 by the Scottish National Fat Stock Club (SNFSC) for “the best pen of pigs in classes 44-47”. This item came to us recently, along with several boxes of papers, from the King’s Building site located to the south of Edinburgh, where the Institute of Animal Genetics, established in 1919, was housed from 1924 onwards. Waddington himself did not come to the Institute until 1946, but the place was obviously active enough before his time to have gained this trophy!

Although this item is not currently part of the scope for ‘Towards Dolly’ (being a very recent acquisition), we hope to catalogue it and our many other genetics collections at a future stage. The ‘Pigs’ Cup’ demonstrates the continuous evolution of collections such as these. Considering the relatively recent history of genetics and the complex interrelationships between different genetics bodies and organisations in Edinburgh, new related collections are frequently coming to our attention – although they do not usually take quite this form!