The factory floor in Brunton’s wire mill, Musselburgh. Thanks to the John Gray Centre Archive for sharing this image with us. (ref. ic-af-229)
For this blog post, which marks the most recent upload of recordings onto the RESP Archive website, we are delighted to hear from Mark Mulhern, Senior Research Fellow with the EERC and lead for the RESP Spoken Word strand.
This latest batch of recordings to be added to the RESP Archive website is in some ways representative of how the RESP goes about including different voices in its collection. Within this batch, which includes 24 fieldwork interviews, we have recollections about:
- The mills in Musselburgh – Brunton’s, Stuart’s and Inveresk paper mill
- One man’s (David Elder) recollections of his early life, National Service and more
- Recollections for workers at a number of enterprises at Gateside Industrial Park, Haddington
- One woman’s (Sheila Murray) recollections of her life in Peebles and her connections to the textile mills in the town
- A recording made in 1973 of Mrs Blacklock on the occasion of her 100th birthday
Friends Sheila Fraser and Kathryn McMillan shared their memories of working together in the Brunton’s wire mill offices (EL6/21)
Within this batch of recordings there is a variety in content and also in the way in which these recordings became part of the RESP:
- The Musselburgh Mills recordings came about as a result of new fieldwork conducted by myself, largely within Musselburgh Museum.
- David’s recording was made by an existing group within the John Gray Centre – the Active Memories Group.
- The interviews of those who worked at the various industrial enterprises at Gateside in Haddington were conducted by members of Haddington’s History Society as part of a project that they ran in partnership with the RESP.
- Sheila’s recording was made by my colleague Caroline Milligan. This interview came about as a result of Sheila having read and enjoyed our recently published book Border Mills: Lives of Peeblesshire Textile Workers
- The recording of Mrs Blacklock was donated to the RESP as a result of Mrs Blacklock’s grandson – her interviewer in 1973 – coming across our work in D&G and asking if we would be interested in adding his recording of his granny to the RESP Collection
As can be readily discerned, material comes to the RESP in a variety of ways. The common factor with this batch of recordings is that their inclusion came about as a result of the RESP being active within and receptive to the communities with which we work with. This is true of this batch of recordings and also reflects the wider ethos of the RESP in which we seek to enable communities to create, preserve and share their recollections.
Another salient point about this batch of recordings is the variety of content. These 24 recordings cover industrial employment, childhood, National Service, work in a number of mills across lowland Scotland and the recollections of a lady who was born in 1873. This diversity is also reflected across the wider RESP Collection.
David Dixon (EL6/24) shared memories of his working life and connections to Brunton’s wire mill.
This range is in and of itself of great importance to the RESP as we seek to provide a space to enable folk to talk about what is of interest to them. Such an approach almost inevitably leads to a collection with diverse content. That diversity of content is a reflection of what is of interest to people in different places. A collection of individuals speaking about what is of interest to them tells us what is of importance to them. In this way, the RESP is establishing a body of work that, for now and the future, tells us something about the commonalities and differences of lives lived in different places and at different times across Scotland. Key to enabling this is the open and receptive approach taken in conducting and managing the RESP.
The Tandberg Goats were moved to their current location in Haddington after Mitsubishi took over the Tandberg plant at Gateside.
This work continues!
Mark Mulhern
Nov 2024