Preserving the Present

It has been a great pleasure recently to accompany Emma Peattie, Archive Manager/Assistant at the West Lothian Council Archives, as she visited primary schools within Livingston. The reason for the visits was to inform and educate the children on the work carried out here at the Archive; about the types of materials held, how they were stored, proper handling, their preservation, and also a short history of Livingston New Town and the Livingston Development Corporation (L.D.C). The talk included showing the children many examples of the materials; from plans to photos, including the oldest volume held within the Archive from 1595.

The Incorporation of Wrights, Linlithgow. 1595

The children were then given photographs from our extensive L.D.C collection and asked to consider and describe the people, places and events within the pictures; how they differed from today and their own lives.

The reason for this educational talk was to prelude asking the children to collect their own materials; photos, diary's, leaflets and examples of school work. Anything that would help to record the children's lives in Livingston in the present day, and also as part of Livingston New Town's 50th anniversary. Once collected these materials will be carefully appraised and the most relevant stored and preserved for years to come within the Archive store.

This will give the schools the opportunity to have these materials loaned out to them in years to come  for presentations and displays for future students. Or indeed for the children themselves who collect the material to visit the archive on Livingston's 100th anniversary and revisit their past.