Historic bagpipes in the Reid Collection

Arnold Myers, Professor of Organology at the University of Edinburgh and director of its Reid Collection of historical musical instruments, conducted a tour during the last collogue. He describes how its bagpipe content developed and reports some exciting recent developments.

THE EDINBURGH University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments started in the period from 1845 when John Donaldson, as Professor of Music, was a pioneering educator. He built what is now the Reid Concert Hall in 1859, and this included a museum alongside the music classroom. It is now the world's oldest museum of instruments still in use for its original purpose. He provided the vision, but did not live long after his museum opened, and in the collection he left included only 100 or so instruments, none of which happened to be bagpipes.

Shortly after, Edinburgh pipe maker Robert Glen started a collection which certainly did include pipes. This was kept in the J & R Glen shop, first on the Mound and latterly in the Lawnmarket. The first pipes on display in the Reid Concert Hall museum were lent in 1968 by Andrew Ross, successor to the Glen business, along with other historic instruments. Andrew died in 1980, aged only 50. The present author borrowed for the University the remainder of the Glen/Ross collection from his widow, which included a lot of piping material - some complete sets of pipes and many parts. 1 also asked Hugh Cheape to catalogue the collection, a task which he completed as a checklist early in 1983. This checklist is still on sale from the University.

Later in 1983 the University was able to purchase the Glen/Ross collection apart from the piping materials. The bagpipes were sold by Mrs Ross to what was then the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. However, through the enlightened policies of the National Museums of Scotland, they have remained on loan to the University at the Reid Concert Hall to this day.

Also in 1980, the University took the C H Brackenbury Memorial Collection on loan, nearly 200 instruments. This whole collection was allocated to the University in 1991 under the Government's Acceptance in Lieu scheme. For the first time, the University owned its own historic bagpipes, two very important sets (by Hugh Robertson of Edinburgh hallmarked 1793-4; and by Malcolm MacGregor of London, early 19th century). Further items have been borrowed for display from Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries, including items from the Glen collection which were sold to Glasgow in the 1940s.

The University was thus in an anomalous position. Any musical museum in Scotland should show a good representative display of pipes, and a collection in a Scottish university should include good examples for teaching and research. The display for the general public was reasonably good, but since nearly everything was on loan, its use in teaching and research was limited. In 2007 when the Heritage Lottery Fund announced its “Collecting Cultures” scheme, designed to help support acquisitions, improve curatorial skills, foster research and increase public involvement, the University of Edinburgh put forward an application under the title “Enriching our Musical Heritage”, entirely devoted to bagpipes. Early in 2008 we learned that this had been successful, one of only 22 awards in response to 95 applications.

Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments (EUCHMI) is a designated Significant Collection and its two museums (Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments and St Cecilia's Hall Museum of Instruments) are both fully accredited museums and can provide the care required and the commitment to a permanent collection.

The outcomes hoped for are the acquisition for the permanent collection of important historic items as they come on the market over the next five years. The scope of the project matches that of the HLF - the whole of the UK, so we seek historic pipes from all the British and Irish traditions. We will collect information placing them in cultural context and eventually produce a report surveying the distributed national heritage of bagpipes. We will create a new museum display, build up subject knowledge in the University and foster research, and increase public involvement through educational activities (EUCHMI has recently recruited a Learning and Access Officer).

The “Enriching our Musical Heritage” project is guided by a steering group consisting of Arnold Myers, director, EUCHMI; Darryl Martin, curator, EUCHMI; Emily Peppers, Learning and Access Officer, EUCHMI; Jacky MacBeath, museum development officer, University of Edinburgh; Hugh Cheape, project adviser; and Graham Wells, project adviser.

Recently, the first purchase as part of the project was made: a set of Lowland pipes by MacDougall, Perth, early 19th century.

For further information, see www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi