200-year-old diary posted online
Entries from a diary written by a Stirling resident some 200 years ago have been digitised and made available online by Stirling Council Archive to give people the chance to see what life in the town was like in the 19th century. Written between 1808 and 1820 by Dr Thomas Lucas, the diary gives an intriguing insight into the town and its surrounding areas – from family and business life to local events and international affairs. Lucas’s entry for 1 January 1813 states: “The weather very mild. No riots on the streets this year on the New Years morning.”
The council's archive will be posting entries for 1813 in an online blog – read them at http://thedrlucasdiaries.wordpress.com/
Ancient Egyptian tombs uncovered in Luxor
Archaeologists in Luxor, southern Egypt, have discovered tombs thought to be more than 3,000 years old. Found under the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Amenhotep II (r1427 BC–1401 BC), the tombs were found to contain the remains of wooden sarcophagi and human bones. Jars with lids resembling the heads of a human, a baboon, a jackal and a falcon – believed to help the soul find its way to heaven – were also unearthed. These vessels were once used to preserve the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines of the deceased.
Queen Victoria music organ appeal launched
Kinloch Castle Friends Association has launched an appeal to raise funds to restore a music organ believed to have been made for Queen Victoria. The instrument, known as an ‘orchestrion’, was designed to sound like a full orchestra or a band, but was never delivered to the queen, who died before it was completed. Instead, the orchestrion was bought by industrialist George Bullough and taken to Kinloch Castle on the Isle of Rum, where it has remained ever since.
Oxford University library receives valuable funding
Regent's Park College in Oxford has been granted £488,000 to digitise its library of Baptist books. The sum, which was awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and The Baptist Union Newington Court Fund, will be put towards the digitisation of the college's Angus Library’s 70,000 books, pamphlets, journals, church records and letters that chart the history of the life and history of Baptists.
Burns research to be unveiled in Glasgow
Research into seven recently discovered manuscripts by Scottish poet Robert Burns is to be discussed at a forthcoming conference in Glasgow. Among the documents, which were discovered inside an Extra Illustrated W Scott Douglas edition of The Works of Robert Burns, were a handwritten Burns manuscript entitled 'Composed on hearing a bird sing while musing on Chloris', and a number of letters.
Hidden artwork recognised by English Heritage
A 1963 mural by German-born Jew Hans Feibusch, which has been hidden inside a boarded up church in Coventry since 2006, has been recognised as historically important by English Heritage. The 40-foot mural is believed to depict the second coming of Christ, and was painted on a wall inside St Mark's Church in the Swanswell area of Coventry. Feibusch was forced to leave Germany after his work was featured in the Nazi’s Degenerate Art Exhibition in 1937.
Image credit: Stirling Council Archive (diary)
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