24 July 2009

Gathering clans get access to family history courses

Thousands of people attending 'The Gathering' in Edinburgh this weekend - the largest clan gathering in Scotland for 200 years - will have the chance to delve deeper into their family history thanks to the University of Dundee.

The University’s Centre for Archive and Information Studies offers specialised courses in Family and Local History, tailored for everything from people planning a career in genealogy to those simply wanting to find out a little more of their own family history.

The Centre is one of only a handful of exhibitors chosen to mount a display in the 'Scotland Lives' tent at The Gathering this weekend.

'Our courses - which range from a postgraduate certificate to short, distance learning programmes - are hugely popular and give people a real insight into how they can trace back local or family history, beyond what they might be able to simply do on the internet,' said Patricia Whatley, University Archivist and Director of the Centre for Archive and Information Studies.

'The Gathering is set to attract thousands of people from all over the world, many of them interested in tracing their Scots ancestry. We look forward to telling them how we can help them to do that.'

For more information on the University’s courses in Local and Family History see: www.dundee.ac.uk/cais/familyhistory.htm.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk