Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. Supporting Scotland’s Sporting Heritage is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Thanks to National Lottery players, Supporting Scotland’s Sporting Heritage will run from 2026-2028, with the aim of making collections more accessible, securing collections at-risk, and deepening the publics understanding of Scotland’s rich sporting history.
Supporting Scotland’s Sporting Heritage will:
- Implement a national programme of surveying Scotland’s sporting archive collections that will engage custodians and users of collections.
- Deliver a suite of public engagement activities overseen by a Sporting Heritage Engagement Officer.
Using a methodology proven successful by the Scottish Business Archives Surveying Officer over a number of decades, a newly dedicated Sporting Archives Surveying Officer will:
- Use archive surveys to better understand where such collections are located, what types of information they contain, and importantly which communities they represent.
- Implement four thematic surveys including a focus on Commonwealth Games sports and Gaelic sports in the Highlands & Islands.
- Develop and share guidance and best practice with records owners to demonstrate the value of archive surveying and cataloguing, promote the value of sporting collections, and share case studies. Packaging and basic conservation skills will also be provided.
An accompanying programme of outreach and engagement activities will run throughout the project overseen by a Sporting Heritage Engagement Officer, and will include:
- a Commonwealth Games workshop engaging school children in the value of sporting archives
- a mid-project Sporting Heritage conference
- audio-visual content sharing updates and insights from collections surveyed as part of the project
- using surveyed archive content to support reminiscence kits and activities
Resources:
A detailed outline of the project and its aims can be found here.
A list of sporting records that should be retained by clubs and organisations for permanent preservation is outlined here.
The full press release for Supporting Scotland’s Sporting Heritage can be found here.
Testimonies from past surveying work with sports organisations below.
We’re now recruiting two brand new roles for Supporting Scotland’s Sporting Heritage project.
Sporting Archives Surveying Officer
Sporting Heritage Engagement Officer
Both are two-year roles, closing date 25th February with provisional dates of 12th and 13th March for interviews.
Click 👇 for images from sporting collections.
To arrange an archive survey, or if you are aware of a sports collection that is at risk from loss, then contact the Sporting Archives Surveying Officer on sssh @ glasgow.ac.uk
A partnership project from:
