Newsline from EDINA
March 2004: Volume 9, Issue 1
The Statistical Accounts for Scotland service has an exciting addition to its already fascinating collection of historical documents. The original manuscript of the answers provided for the parish of Dumfries held in the National Archives of Scotland, has been scanned and is now available with a transcript, introduction and additional notes. It was written for the first Statistical Account by William Burnside, Minister of Church in the town, and covers the 1790s.
As the first Statistical Account was produced by a team of clerks and editors, it is additionally intriguing to compare what Burnside wrote with what was actually published (vol 5, pp.119 -144). The Dumfries manuscript is only available in the subscription service either as a link from the front page or via the Dumfries parish page.