Kirk Sessions

scooter · Post by **scooter** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:10 pm

I saw that, which I guess, traditionally, means about two years after that date - or maybe not? Are you in 'the knowledge' David? :D

Cheers,

Scott

Archiver · Post by **Archiver** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:09 pm

Scooter wrote:I saw that, which I guess, traditionally, means about two years after that date - or maybe not? Are you in 'the knowledge' David?

Cheers,

Scott

Think it depends on how long it will take to get the 20,000 documents they want online - there are only 4,000 at the moment.

If they can get that done by December 2009, then it theoretically shouldn't take much longer to roll out the access. The testing stage by the 'partners' is over, as far I am aware, and their comments are being worked on.

Once the site is up, it seems like it will be the place to go for documents outwith the ScotlandsPeople remit - valuation rolls, for example, are mentioned as being a part of the project.

The kirk session records will simply be the digital images of the original, there hasn't been any indexing done as this would be a huge job to take on but the fun is in reading through them to get to what you want. It's very easy to be distracted by entries in the kirk session records!

Post by **SarahND** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:35 pm

Archiver wrote:The kirk session records will simply be the digital images of the original, there hasn't been any indexing done as this would be a huge job to take on but the fun is in reading through them to get to what you want. It's very easy to be distracted by entries in the kirk session records!

I agree that the fun is in reading the whole picture, as long as it is not costing £1 for each page as you read...

Do you suppose, as it is not indexed and therefore it is impossible to know if there is any relevant information, that the price will be low to compensate?

Here's hoping

Sarah

Archiver · Post by **Archiver** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:43 pm

Ooh, I never thought about the cost! It doesn't say anything about it on the Scottish Documents site so I wonder how it will work.

Post by **Anne H** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:47 am

I was hoping that when they do come online that the system would be similar to the Wills. £5 per Will regardless of the number of pages and hopefully a hint to determine if you have the correct one.

Regards,
Anne H

Post by **SarahND** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:08 am

Hi Anne,
Not quite sure how you'd decide what is a "unit" to purchase... a year's worth of sessions?

Or just one meeting?

How about getting them for free if you promise to make them an index of the bit you got? $\:D/$

Regards,
Sarah

Post by **Anne H** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:53 am

oops! Looks like I should have read the earlier posts before responding, Sarah.

I didn't realize the records weren't filed by name. The only Kirk Session Records I've ever seen were very kindly given to me all nicely typed and in date order...silly me, I didn't think about how they might be found in the actual books.

How about getting them for free if you promise to make them an index of the bit you got? $\:D/$

I'd be more than happy to make them an index...I'm not sure how quickly they would get it since I know I would be engrossed in reading every word, so there could be a long delay.

Regards,
Anne H0.

mal · Post by **mal** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:54 pm

I was in the NAS on Friday and spent a fascinating 20 minutes reading through the Tannadice Kirk Session minutes from 1797 on the computer there. Over a 2 year period there must have been about 6 meetings of the kirk session trying to get David Creighton to admit that he had gone to bed with 2 female servants and had transgressed with one of them. The girls admitted it but he did not. I did not have time to read right to the end.

They were not indexed at all and I am not sure how effective the indexing would be as quite a few pages were taken up with this episode. There were also 2 or 3 illegitimate children during this period but little else.

Malcolm

Montrose Budie · Post by **Montrose Budie** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 7:06 pm

SarahND wrote:
Archiver wrote:The kirk session records will simply be the digital images of the original, there hasn't been any indexing done as this would be a huge job to take on but the fun is in reading through them to get to what you want. It's very easy to be distracted by entries in the kirk session records!
I agree that the fun is in reading the whole picture, as long as it is not costing £1 for each page as you read... Do you suppose, as it is not indexed and therefore it is impossible to know if there is any relevant information, that the price will be low to compensate?

Here's hoping

Sarah

The basic problems are how to index them, and how to charge.

A pilot project based on an index based on every name mentioned demonstrated that such an index was a massive task beyond the current resources of NAS.

The most likely form of index will be a geographic one, but the question thenis how to arrnage access...........

mb

Montrose Budie · Post by **Montrose Budie** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 7:12 pm

Archiver wrote:
Scooter wrote:I saw that, which I guess, traditionally, means about two years after that date - or maybe not? Are you in 'the knowledge' David?

Cheers,

Scott
Think it depends on how long it will take to get the 20,000 documents they want online - there are only 4,000 at the moment.

If they can get that done by December 2009, then it theoretically shouldn't take much longer to roll out the access. The testing stage by the 'partners' is over, as far I am aware, and their comments are being worked on.

Once the site is up, it seems like it will be the place to go for documents outwith the ScotlandsPeople remit - valuation rolls, for example, are mentioned as being a part of the project.

The kirk session records will simply be the digital images of the original, there hasn't been any indexing done as this would be a huge job to take on but the fun is in reading through them to get to what you want. It's very easy to be distracted by entries in the kirk session records!

'Online' in this instance refers to NAS's own system, for access from outside NAS, but currently greatly restricted as regards these records. In terms of the NAS internal system all the KS records are viewable - with just the one caveat, - it's a while since I checked if all the KS records held elsewhere have been borrowed for digitisation.

mb