School of Scottish Studies

The University of Edinburgh established the School of Scottish Studies in 1951. Its archive, located on George Square, holds around 33,000 field recordings of traditional music, song, and folklore. The collection was initiated by Calum Maclean—brother of poet Sorley MacLean—and the poet, writer, and folklorist Hamish Henderson. Both worked with American folklorist Alan Lomax, whose influence is seen as a key spark for the school’s efforts.

From 1984 to 1995, Margaret Bennett—a writer, singer, and ethnologist, and mother of musician Martyn Bennett—was on the staff. In 2012, Mòrag MacLeod, a researcher at the school for four decades, received a Sàr Ghaidheal Fellowship for her work in Gaelic language and culture. Other staff have included Alan Bruford, Donald-Archie MacDonald, Emily Lyle, Ian Fraser, Peter Cooke, Margaret MacKay, John MacInnes, Gary West, John Shaw, Cathlin MacAulay, Neill Martin, Katherine Campbell, and Will Lamb.

In 1986, the department launched a full undergraduate honours degree in Scottish Ethnology, covering custom and belief, oral narrative, ethnomusicology, material culture, cultural revivalism, emigrant traditions, traditional drama, heritage, and the supernatural. After a major restructuring at the university, teaching of these programmes moved to the department of Celtic and Scottish Studies within the School of Literature, Languages and Cultures.

As of 2024, it offers four-year MA programmes in Celtic (single and joint honours), Scottish Ethnology (single and joint honours), and Scottish Studies. The name “School of Scottish Studies” now refers only to the archival holdings, which have been managed by the Centre for Research Collections since 2018. In 2010, a large portion of the archive’s audio field recordings became available online through Tobar an Dualchais / Kist of Riches, a partnership with the BBC, the National Trust for Scotland, and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.

The school also holds the collection of Scottish Gaelic folklorist Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray, which documents the now-extinct Perthshire Gaelic dialect.