Design for a villa by
James Salmon, thought
to be for his father,
William Forrest Salmon,
1896. SC780632

Elevation of Lathallan
House, Kilconquhar,
North-East Fife by Peddie
& Kinnear for J R
Lumsdaine, 1864.
SC691960

‘I first heard of RCAHMS when looking on the Internet for work experience and came upon the site. I looked at the ‘SCHOOLS’ section and found an advertisement ‘PUPIL PLACEMENT: APPLY FOR WORK EXPERIENCE’.

‘My week’s work experience at the RCAHMS was very interesting, as I was doing something new every day. The people there were very friendly and helpful, I learned many new things like: how to use the complicated databases, using the hi-tech equipment to make my own photographs of Carnwath, which is where I live. I had to organise the files in the Library - some of the pictures and photos are stunning to look at, plus using the databases to find certain photographs and books.’

‘I also learned something very new to me. I learned how to use a grid reference properly, and how to plot the sites the RCAHMS survey and record onto the maps they use. Everything was very organised - it was something that I enjoyed doing for my work experience. It has given me an insight to what I may do when I reach my dream job.’

Find out more about work experience at RCAHMS.

‘For my work placement module at West Lothian College I was asked to undertake 15 hours of work experience in an environment relating to my specialist field and produce a report. I am currently studying a year course in HNC Art & Design and was exceptionally lucky to carry out my placement in the Survey & Graphics department of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

‘I was supervised throughout my placement by Ian Parker who gave me a general introduction to the main aspects of RCAHMS’ work and in particular the Survey & Graphics department. I had one-to-one discussions with each member of Survey & Graphics staff who each explained and demonstrated their specialist areas of work: subjects covered included archaeological and building illustration and survey, 3D graphics, mapping, aerial photographic transcription, carved stone recording and publication design. I was also given a guided tour of the Photographic department by Anne Martin, which included digitisation, and a tour of the public search room by David Easton. Alan Kilpatrick explained the work of the Historic Land-Use Assessment project.

‘Overall I felt that the Survey & Graphics department offered me lots of help and information during my work placement, and kept me occupied at all times. I am very grateful for this experience, as I was able to learn about many aspects of the work of the RCAHMS and the Survey & Graphics department in particular. This resulted in a very worthwhile and interesting placement. I had not realised the range of skills that went into RCAHMS’ projects and publications and would like to thank every member of staff at Survey & Graphics for giving me the opportunity to experience a professional graphics department working environment. This placement will definitely help me in my report and in future years.

‘I know I will definitely be visiting the RCAHMS public search room again.’

David W Walker's first experience of RCAHMS was as an undergraduate volunteer during the summer vacations of 1992-93 when he catalogued the Salmon Collection - an archive of architectural drawings, artworks and personal correspondence relating chiefly to James Salmon junior (known as the 'wee troot'), a Glasgow designer who was a friend of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Several years later David returned to RCAHMS as a postgraduate student to research his thesis on Peddie & Kinnear, one of the largest Victorian architectural practices in Scotland, whose output ranged from Edinburgh's baronial Cockburn Street to the classical Italianate of Dunblane Hydro, and to Central Chambers (formerly the Blythswoodholm Hotel) in Glasgow, the style of which owes much to Alexander 'Greek' Thomson. This archive had just been acquired by RCAHMS as part of the Scottish Architects' Papers Preservation Project and was being catalogued by RCAHMS staff, who worked with David closely.

'As the heart of an organisation many of whose staff and fellow visitors held interests similar to my own, and who would often discuss with me whatever I was looking at, I always found the search room a friendly - often jovially convivial - place in which to be.'

David now works at RCAHMS as a member of the Architecture Catalogue Project team.

'My first encounter with the Royal Commission was while working on my undergraduate dissertation (researching wheelhouse - semi-subterranean Iron Age roundhouse - sites in the Western Isles). Although most students were dimly aware of the existence of 'The Commission' nobody could quite put their finger on what RCAHMS actually did - besides inventories - or what students could get out of a visit. There were rumours of a well-stocked library and archives, although precisely how one accessed this wealth of information was beyond anyone, including University staff.

Steven now works at RCAHMS with the Historic Land-Use Assessment Project.

Aerial photograph showing
a possible henge
monument at Dunragit,
Wigtownshire, Dumfries
and Galloway. SC342741

Sketch of the proposed
design for the interior of
Cleghorn's Department
Store, 104 George Street,
Edinburgh, by Sir Basil
Spence, 1937-8.
SC357574

'I first used the RCAHMS website when researching pit-circles and pitted enclosures for my masters dissertation during the summer of 2003.

Kirsty now works at RCAHMS as an aerial photograph cataloguer.

Dates of placement: 23 June-17 July 2004
Placed with: Scottish Architects' Papers Preservation Project (SAPPP)
Iain came to RCAHMS during his research degree into the History of Architecture at the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art. He volunteered to work at RCAHMS to get a better background in Scottish architecture after studying French architecture for his degree. During his time with SAPPP Iain worked with architectural drawings, the database and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Iain says: 'I'm going off to work for Historic Scotland as an assistant inspector of Historic Buildings and working on the SAPP Project has made me more aware of the resources at the Commission. It's given me the confidence to go into archives and use architects' drawings in a way I might not have done before. Its also made me generally more aware of Scottish architecture of the last century.'

The craftsmanship of some of the early drawings particularly struck Iain: 'What I've found interesting about the drawings, especially from the earlier part of the century, was the care and detail that architects took over them, which simply isn't there now. Today everything is produced on a computer, and a drawing can disappear straight away. Whereas each drawing they produced before, down to the lettering, the colour, the detailing of the drawing, was almost a work of art in itself.'

In summing up, Iain feels placements like his give you 'a chance to get experience, which a lot of jobs in this field look for, which you simply wouldn't get through doing a degree or reading books on the subject. RCAHMS gives you lots of opportunities to work hands-on with their projects.'

He also sees opportunities for students coming after him to use the RCAHMS collections for projects in the future: 'dissertations... turning into books, the potential [is] there for exhibitions...'

Dunfermline Athletic
Football Club, impression
of new turnstiles, c.1957
Shearer and Annand
Collection. SC609905

Duration of placement: 10 days (one day a week for 10 weeks in 2001)
Placed with: Scottish Architects' Papers Preservation Project (SAPPP)

Caroline is currently studying for a post graduate diploma in Urban Regional Planning at Heriot Watt University. She completed a work placement with RCAHMS in the third year of her undergraduate degree in Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh. Caroline's placement involved working with the Shearer & Annand and the Ian G Lindsay Collections. It was whilst working on the job files, preparing an inventory of jobs completed by James Shearer, that Caroline discovered more about the architect's role in the town planning of Dunfermline, and decided to write her 12,000 word work-placement report on this aspect of his career. This involved: 'looking at town planning generally in the 1940s, putting it into context, looking at Shearer's ideas on planning and looking more specifically at what he proposed for Dunfermline. It was really interesting, he wasn't keen on building the Forth Road Bridge, feeling a boat link would be better. His plan was an advisory town plan, but a lot of it was picked up by the following plan that was prepared. So a lot of what you see in Dunfermline today was influenced by Shearer's ideas.'

In summing up, Caroline felt the placement was of great value: 'if I had the option on my present course to do a work placement rather than a module then I would definitely do that. You get a great insight into an office and area you wouldn't necessarily know about, and you get your face known, which is important.'

Caroline went on to publish her report on Shearer in the journal Architectural Heritage, and also worked on cataloguing projects for RCAHMS for a period between her undergraduate degree and her post graduate diploma.