TWA Digitisation Grant Winners 2024
Ladysbridge Station from above. One of Isabella Lumsden’s many homes on the rails.
We are delighted to share the news that the Museum of Scottish Railways archive has been awarded the TownsWeb Archiving Digitisation Grant 2024.
This project will give the public access to a unique, previously unseen family archive that reveals daily life on Scotland’s railways in all its vibrant diversity.
Created and informally curated by stationmaster’s wife Isabella Horn, the Lumsden Family Papers reveal the culture and social concerns of railway communities in the period between the WWII and the Beeching era. Informal snapshots capture daily life in and around stations up and down the country, progressive changes in the built environment, leisure activities such as the camping coach holiday, and mid-century fashion trends.
A “ground-breaking collaboration”
Nathanael Liu, our digitisation partner, has shared the following thoughts as we prepare to start the work:
“We’re excited to be a part of this ground-breaking collaboration with the Museum of Scottish Railways, which will bring the vibrant, untold stories of railway communities and the crucial role of women to light, offering the public unprecedented access to a rich family archive.”
The announcement was made at the ARA Conference in Birmingham on the 28th August, and work begins this autumn.
Learn more about Isabella Lumsden and her homes on the rails.
The Museum of Scottish Railways Archive is partnering with Scottish Council on Archives in 2024 to share ‘A Year in the Life of a Community Archive’. Visit the Scottish Council on Archives project blog to discover more about Isabella and her perspectives on domestic life in Scotland’s station houses.