If you are not too busy with home DIY or being creative with pasta and you have time on your hands then have a look at the thousands of images Historic Environment Scotland (HES) have in their archive that need identified . There’s  over 5,000 archive images now available online for the first time.

In 2019-20, over 170,000 archive items from the HES archives were digitised, with the images now being added to Canmore – the online catalogue of HES archives.

The new online records include digitised copies of photographic negatives and printed photographs from the Scottish Development Department (SDD) which was formed in 1962.

The archives showcase rural and urban Scotland in the 1970s and 1980s, from crofts in the Highlands and farms in Orkney to large estates in Fife and tenements in Glasgow.

The collection gives a rare insight into what life was like throughout Scotland at that time with pub interiors, fashion trends and interior design choices all documented. There are also extensive records of Glasgow, Edinburgh and  Scotland’s new towns.

Archaeological Images

Also digitised this year were prints relating to significant archaeological digs including images of excavations at historic sites such as Skara Brae in Orkney and Edinburgh Castle.

Approximately 14,000 prints were also digitised from personal research and work by prominent archaeologists such as Dr Euan Mackie, Roger Mercer and Vere Gordon Childe, with the oldest image dating from around 1927.

How to send in your information

To provide HES with details or locations of its archives, please email archives@hes.scot or get in touch via Facebook and Twitter.