What is the NRAS?
The NRAS (part of the National Records of Scotland) records the whereabouts of archives of historical significance held in private hands across Scotland, for example those held by businesses, societies and landed estates. As well as identifying such papers, the NRAS promotes their care and preservation to ensure they aren’t lost or destroyed in the future.
The Sports Archives Surveying Officer works closely with colleagues at NRAS to survey records of historical significance held specifically by sporting organisations.
What is a records survey?
A records survey provides an overview of an organisation’s archives (both physical and digital) to understand their quantity and range. An initial survey will often take the form of a brief list, which may be broken down by location, department, or function of a business.
Why should my club or organisation add its survey to the NRAS database?
We will add the list of your archives to the Register to ensure that there is a national record of your club archive existing; A survey can provide helpful information to researchers and academics, and staff at the NRAS can help answer specific queries regarding your archive and liaise between researchers and you regarding access. But just because the survey is on the Register, this does not give the researcher an automatic right of access.
What does being added to the NRAS mean for my survey?
The full survey will automatically be available to researchers in the public search room of the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh and a very brief description added to The National Archive’ Discovery website. There are different levels of online public accessibility that can be applied to your survey:
- Option 1: A summary description of the archive can be made available on the NRAS’ On-line Register
- Option 2: The full survey can also be made available on the NRAS On-line Register