In replying to Professor Thomas Owen Clancy and others (Letters, May 18 and 19) it is important to emphasise that the historic collection that lies at the heart of the Scottish Catholic Archives at Columba House is not being split.

In 1878, Pope Leo XIII restored a diocesan hierarchy to the Catholic Church in Scotland, and the restored dioceses began to establish their own archives.

At the future offices of the Bishops' Conference in Glasgow, it is intended to draw together an archive based on the documents and papers created and gathered from 1878 onwards, including papers of the Bishops' Conference, papal documents, items relating to such national events as the two papal visits, plus whatever individual dioceses may consider as having a national reference and a clear need for long-term preservation and accessibility by scholars and the public.

The historic collection intended for Aberdeen, on the other hand, has its own integrity and illustrates the late medieval and post-Reformation survival of the Scottish Catholic Church, particularly through the Scots colleges and monasteries on the continent of Europe, which was, as much as possible, repatriated at the time of the French Revolution.

For more than a decade, experts have viewed Columba House, which occupies part of a Georgian townhouse built in 1819, as unsuitable as a long-term home for the historic collection and additional materials.

It is incorrect to state, as has been claimed, that the bishops consider the collections as being their private property. On the contrary, at the suggestion of the Scottish Catholic Heritage Commission, and following the closure of Blairs College, they set up the Scottish Catholic Heritage Collections Trust to oversee and own the collections. This body includes lay expert trustees as well as representatives from the Bishops' Conference, under the presidency of Archbishop Conti. At every stage, he has sought the advice of the trustees, the bishops and other experts, and presented this to the Bishops' Conference for endorsement – though the responsibility in law remains of course with the trustees.

I understand that over the years members of the Scottish Catholic Historical Association and its council have served on the Heritage Commission. More than a decade ago, the association was aware of the proposed decision to relocate the historic collection to Aberdeen; and the association responded in 2008 to that year's Bishops' Conference announcement.

A number of the letters criticising the transfer betray a disturbing "metropolitanism". Having served the capital for more than 30 years as its city curator and then director of culture, I am well aware of all the historical, cultural and scholarly riches it has to offer.

But Edinburgh and the Central Belt do not encapsulate Scotland. It is nonsense to suggest that lending the collections to Aberdeen University's hugely impressive new library, with its state-of-the-art facilities, will somehow diminish scholarship and our nation.

The partnership with the university represents an exciting new opportunity to promote interest in, and research into, the regional, national and international dimensions of our nation's story. In particular, it will bolster the capacity of the north-east to contribute to Scottish Catholic studies, and is to be welcomed.

Herbert Coutts,

Member of the Scottish Catholic Heritage Commission,

Trustee of the Scottish Catholic Heritage Collection,

Kirkhill House,

Queen's Road,

Dunbar.

There is an antiquarian law in Scottish history that the best research emanates only from Edinburgh ("Top historian urges rethink on Catholic archives split", The Herald, May 17)). The views of recent correspondents imply that this seemingly outdated law is still operational. It dates back to the Victorian principle that "doing research" is less about using archive material, and more about wandering the musty halls of grey Georgian buildings in the capital in a tweed suit.

Those with the luxury of being based around Edinburgh have always avoided the delights (and expense) of getting to the capital from further afield.

The early-morning rise to get into Glasgow; the hour spent on the "sardine express" to the capital; the arrival in the archive mid- morning, only to find it will take another two hours for the item of interest to be retrieved.

The consequences of archives traditionally being based in Edinburgh are many, not least that interest in many areas of Scottish history seemingly fade with the square of their distance from Edinburgh. This follows the old parochial trap, that historians need always be aware of the danger of contemplating their own navels, by studying only what is nearest to them.

Nobody seems to be suggesting that the proposed move of the Catholic archive will damage or affect its security. Any aim to spread Scottish archives beyond the capital, and make them accessible to a wider pool of researchers, will be welcomed by many.

Dr Stuart Nisbet,

15 Victoria Crescent,

Glasgow.