Papers of Helen Cameron Nisbet, geologist and archaeologist, Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland

Description Papers of Helen Cameron Nisbet, geologist and archaeologist, Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland

Date 1958 to 2008

Collection Papers of Helen Cameron Nisbet, geologist and archaeologist, Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland

Catalogue Number 551 108

Category All Other

Scope and Content A collection comprising reports, drawings and photographs from fieldwork and research by Helen C Nisbet, including: excavations at Tor a’Chorcain, Langwell, 1973-4; excavations at Craigmarloch, 1963-5; excavation of cists at Eweford, East Lothian, 1975; excavations at East Lix, Perth and Kinross; survey work on the Sands of Forvie, Ardwall Island, Meikle Reive, and in Orkney and Shetland; photography of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes; thematic photography of forts, duns, brochs and settlements and early medieval ecclesiastical sites. The collection also includes photographic copies of a collection of colour slides of archaeological sites, and of Sula Sgair and North Rona, taken by Helen Nisbet. Digital photographs of North Rona taken in June 2008.

Archive History The collection comprises successive deposits: Acc No 1997/584, assorted items including glass plate negatives from North Rona and Sula Sgeir, 1958, and archive from excavations at Craigmarloch, Renfrewshire, 1963-5. Acc No 2004/279, Survey of a Private Collection: slides of archaeological sites and themes of all periods throughout Scotland from the 1950s to the 1980s, lent by Helen Nisbet per the Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow, which retains the originals. Acc No 2009/127, Survey of a Private Collection: slides of Sula Sgair and North Rona. Acc No 2012/7, digital photographs of North Rona taken in June 2008. Acc No 2018/102, material relating to the archaeological work of Helen Nisbet, donated to HES by her family.

System of Arrangement The archive is arranged by accession and by survey and excavation.

Access Conditions Open, but note that access may be subject to provisions outlined in the Data Protection Act and conservation requirements. Please contact the archive to confirm access in advance of a visit.

Administrative History Born in Glasgow, Helen Nisbet studied geology at the University of Glasgow. In 1959 she was appointed geological curator at Paisley Museum, a post she held until 1962 when she moved to a similar post in the Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, as curator of the Cockburn Museum. She was in addition an active field archaeologist, in 1958 working with Alan Gailey on a survey of North Rona. Her geological expertise was called upon in the analysis of thin-section samples of archaeological ceramics, and in her investigation and excavation of vitrified forts at Craigmarloch (1963-5), and Langwell (1973-4). In addition, Nisbet was an active climber, a member of the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club from 1962, and its Honorary Secretary for nine years. Latterly she lived in Lasswade, Midlothian. Author of ‘A Survey of the Antiquities of North Rona’ (with R A Gailey) (1962), ‘A geological approach to vitrified forts’, ‘Excavation of a vitrified dun at Langwell, Strath Oykel, Sutherland’ (1994), ‘Vitrification phenomena in hillforts’. She was also the author of a novel, ‘The Raven’s Beak’ (1981).

Accruals No accruals are anticipated.

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