A few of my favourite things V: a gift from ‘the Polish Teachers in Uniform’ TAGS: CRC | Edinburgh university Library Special Collecions | Polish School of Medicine | Polish Students in Uniform | Polonia Restituta | Professor Sir Godfrey Thomson My favourite item from all the collections I have worked with in the past 10 months is a beautiful album in the Moray House collection.  The album was made for …Continue reading →

A few of my favourite [festive!] things TAGS: Christmas | Cyprus | Hector and Andromache | mathematics | Newcastle | Professor Godfrey Thomson | Professor Sir Godfrey Thomson At the start of the festive period, I had the best of intentions to post a festive blog post for every day of advent.  Alas, there isn’t much mention of …Continue reading →

‘Who is that chap with the terrific head?!’ TAGS: CRC | Edinburgh University Special Collections | Hugh MacDiarmid | Professor Sir Godfrey Thomson | R H Westwater | Robert Heriot Westwater Robert Heriot Westwater’s most famous portrait is probably that of Christopher Murray Grieve (more widely known by his nom de plume,  Hugh McDiarmid!).  But Westwater also painted two very different …Continue reading →

A few of my favourite things…III TAGS: Burschenschaften | CRC | duelling | Edinburgh University Library Special Collections | Godfrey Thomson | Mensur | Professor Sir Godfrey Thomson | Student clubs | University of Strasbourg | University of Strasburg In his mid 20s, Thomson found himself studying for a PhD under the formidable talents of Nobel Prize winining physicist, Karl Ferdinand Braun, at the University of Strasburg.  Today’s object …Continue reading →