Sunday, August 19, 2012

Statistical Accounts of Scotland


Inspiration for today's post again comes via Facebook. This morning Scotland's Genealogy linked to the above video on the Statistical Accounts of Scotland.

In the five-minute video Dr. Helen Chisholm of EDINA provides background to the two Statistical Accounts and walks viewers through the website. The First Statistical Account is from the 1790s and the Second Account is from the 1830s. While they won't provide names and dates, they do provide excellent "snapshots" of all Scotland's parishes.

Visit the main page for the Statistical Accounts is here, view a slideshare tour of the Accounts here, or read more about them at Scottish GENES here.  If you like historical tweets you can follow the Statistical Accounts on Twitter here; each post links to a specific page in the various accounts.

4 comments:

Hugh said...

Previously unaware of these accounts, particularly the first, a quick scan of parishes where my surname was numerous provides a sense of "rootedness" previously missing.

Amanda E. Epperson said...

I'm so glad you know about the Statistical Accounts now, Hugh. They really are quite nifty!

Anonymous said...

The Statistical Accounts can really help you understand what was going on at the time. I found an original copy for Ayrshire in a second hand book shop and refer to it often. Thanks for the links to the on-line Accounts :-) Jo

Amanda E. Epperson said...

You're more than welcome Jo!