8 August 2007

City of Discovery: an evening of music, poetry and history

Dundee University Archive Department are hosting a night of music, poetry and history on Monday 13th August.

David Kett from the Local History Centre, Dundee Central Library, will discuss William McGonagall while Iain Flett, City Archivist from the Dundee City Archives will speak about the history of Dundee - from quill to quark.

Music comes courtesy of Elisabeth Flett, a singer and fiddle player who will perform music from the Wighton Collection which is held at Dundee Central Library.

The evening will be introduced by Prof Chris Whatley, Dean of the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Dundee.

Titled City of Discovery, the evening will be held at the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre, Tower Building, University of Dundee. It starts at 6pm.

The event is open to the public but is also being held to welcome delegates to the International Archivist Conference.

The Centre for Archive and Information Studies at the University of Dundee is holding the annual conference of the International Council on Archives Section on University and Research Institution Archives. This is the first time it has been held in Scotland and around 80 delegates are expected from the UK, Europe, Australia, America, Canada and Brazil.

Keynote speakers include Nick Barrett the writer and broadcaster and Tom Devine author of the Scottish Nation who will be addressing the conference dinner. The main theme of the conference is to examine challenges faced by archivists in the 21st century: using new technologies and skills to provide services; dealing with the growth of digital information; dealing with an increasingly divergent user base; the changing nature of archives as cultural objects, tools of accountability, objects of political power, and 'traces' of memory.

The conference is being held at the Apex Hotel from 14th to 16th August. More information is available at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/SUV2007/

Tickets for the evening of music, poetry and history are £4 and the cost includes a wine reception. Tickets can be bought from Archives Services on 01382 384095.

For media enquiries contact:
Anna Day
Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk