I've just been watching a parade of World War Two veterans, marking the 70th anniversary of VE Day in 1945. My own parents - both in their nineties - have been interviewed in the Sunday Herald today about their own recollections of VE Day. There are links to the past all around us, and historians would do well to take advantage before it is too late.
One of the key aspects to writing about history is to find eye-witness accounts of major events, rather than depending on newspaper reports and official reports. This can take you back further than you might expect. For example, in a football context, there are still people alive today who met the players in the first international of 1872. I wrote about one of them, Walter Fergusson, in the Herald a couple of years ago; he could remember meeting his great-uncle William Mackinnon who had played for Scotland in that match.
Of course, this is not always possible and the next best thing is to have access to a primary source such as a scrapbook. The Victorians, in particular, were great ones for sticking things in books and I have seen some wonderful artefacts and ephemera that have survived in this way.
Sometimes, however, the amount of material can be overwhelming. I recently inherited a large chest, pictured above, which contains the scrapbooks and picture albums of two grandparents. They both led interesting lives, covering (in his case) a Glasgow upbringing, a career in the British Raj, and a lengthy retirement in Edinburgh; and (in her case) a childhood in Lancashire as part of a large Scottish family, service as a nurse in WW1 that included being sunk on a hospital ship, and an MBE for services to genealogy. They lived to 97 and 103 respectively.
It will take me years to go through all the books. However, if I have inherited their longevity genes I should manage to find the time. I suspect it will be an intensely rewarding experience.
One of the key aspects to writing about history is to find eye-witness accounts of major events, rather than depending on newspaper reports and official reports. This can take you back further than you might expect. For example, in a football context, there are still people alive today who met the players in the first international of 1872. I wrote about one of them, Walter Fergusson, in the Herald a couple of years ago; he could remember meeting his great-uncle William Mackinnon who had played for Scotland in that match.
Of course, this is not always possible and the next best thing is to have access to a primary source such as a scrapbook. The Victorians, in particular, were great ones for sticking things in books and I have seen some wonderful artefacts and ephemera that have survived in this way.
Sometimes, however, the amount of material can be overwhelming. I recently inherited a large chest, pictured above, which contains the scrapbooks and picture albums of two grandparents. They both led interesting lives, covering (in his case) a Glasgow upbringing, a career in the British Raj, and a lengthy retirement in Edinburgh; and (in her case) a childhood in Lancashire as part of a large Scottish family, service as a nurse in WW1 that included being sunk on a hospital ship, and an MBE for services to genealogy. They lived to 97 and 103 respectively.
It will take me years to go through all the books. However, if I have inherited their longevity genes I should manage to find the time. I suspect it will be an intensely rewarding experience.
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