Those in the academic community who have taken an interest in the disturbing proposals to close the Scottish Catholic Archives are grateful for The Herald's very fair coverage of the issue ("Anger over decision to close church archives", The Herald, June 29 & Letters, June 30).
It now seems clear that the contents of the archives are to be divided. The year 1878, the date of the restoration of the hierarchy in Scotland, seems to have been chosen as the point of division. This will be an obstruction to scholarship as many historians will require to use both pre- and post- 1878 material.
It now seems reasonably clear that the pre-1878 material will be located in the library of the University of Aberdeen. Unfortunately, however, the fate of the post-1878 material is very unclear.
It would be extremely helpful to have a communication from the church to shed light on the location of the post-1878 material after the closure of the archives in Edinburgh.
Ewen A Cameron,
Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History,
University of Edinburgh.
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