Scottish Country Dancer Magazine Autumn 2024

The Archive is busier than ever, with many new accruals. Recently, there has been a large influx of recorded music, both LPs and 78 rpm records. As a result, the Archive Recorded Music Catalogue is now quite extensive and covers recordings made in the 1920s through to the 1970s/80s when the production of vinyl records started to decline. There is an ongoing Archive project to catalogue and digitise these recordings and make them available for the personal use of members. With the present Archive resources, this could take a very long time!! The Archive catalogue lists holdings of old 78 rpm records of SCD Music by many of the well-known band leaders and musicians from the past, such as Jimmy Shand, Adam Rennie, Jim Cameron, Michael Diack, William Hannah, Annie Scott Shand, George Davie and Tim Wright to name but a few.

Music in Recorded and Printed Form - RSCDS Archive

Perhaps the most significant and interesting recent accrual is a “wind-up” HMV Gramophone, which was donated by a member who was “clearing out”. The Gramophone was manufactured by the HMV Company and dates from the mid-1920s but as yet the precise model remains elusive! It is in excellent condition and is in fully working order, and the quality of the sound is really quite remarkable, helped no doubt by the aid of its built-in sound box.

Listen on our SoundCloud radio ‘Sound from the RSCSD Archive’ Jimmy Shand solo accordion playing music for the Virginia Reel. ca 1935 and J Michael Diack’s Orchestra playing for Strip the Willow ca. 1923, digitised from the original 78 rpm records. Archive, by appointment only: archive@rscds.org)