Three million records spanning 5,000 years of Scottish history have been made available online in a new national records, collections and archives platform.
The ‘Trove.scot’ platform allows people to search among archives, culturally significant objects and information relating to historic and archaeological sites across Scotland – all in one place.
From standing stones to skate parks, the portal will make the information more accessible than ever before, providing an exciting new resource for hobbyists, educators, historians and heritage professionals alike.
Using filters, keyword and map searches, users can now unearth a range of detail from Historic Environment Scotland’s different sources in a single search.
Katerina Brown, Chief Executive of HES, said: “We are excited to be bringing heritage even closer to people’s everyday lives with this new platform. Trove.scot will make it easier to learn about the heritage and historic environment that surrounds you, whether that is the listed buildings on your street or archive images of historic events that shaped communities.
“It marks one of the largest investments in our programme to improve and enhance digital access to information on the historic environment, and increase the number and diversity of people who engage with Scotland’s history and heritage.
“We hope that by making the vast store of information we hold more accessible, trove.scot will encourage more people to dig into Scotland’s past and see what they can discover with the new platform. Of course, the launch is just the beginning, and we’ll continue working hard behind the scenes to bring more exciting innovations to service.”
Information currently found on the Historic Environment Portal, Canmore, SCRAN and Property in Care Collections will be the primary data sources for the platform. These existing websites will still be available while development continues on trove.scot, which has been made possible with funding from the Historic Scotland Foundation.
The records are drawn from the catalogue of Scotland’s archaeology and built heritage with over 2,000 culturally significant objects from HES’s properties and educational and archival images and media from SCRAN.