English ballads in the National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland has catalogued and digitised 2,300 English ballads, mostly 19th century. There are 23 topics. with Wars further subdivided: Courtship and marriage (383), Crime and punishment (94), Disasters (26), Elegies and laments (92), Emigration and farewells (56), Fashion (20), 'Foreigners' (23), Ireland (190), Literature and theatre (65), Misc (23), Occupations (107), Old age and death (26), Patriotism (73), Politics and government (321), Religion and morality (102), Royalty (136), Scotland (24), Slavery (10), Soldiers and sailors (177), Sons and daughters (57), Sports and entertainments (99), Temperance and various vices (50), Wars: Spanish Succession (13), Wars: Seven Year's War (7), Wars: French Revolutionary (12),  Wars: Napoleonic (62), Wars: Crimean (61), Wars: Indian (14), Wars: Other (28).

As with Word on the Street (Scottish broadsides - see blog post 30.11.11), you can browse and search. As the screen shot shows, expandable menus on the left allow you to subdivide your results by Form, Place, Subject (including further subject subdivisions), Place, People and Century. There are also transcriptions of the text. An excellent resource.

(C) National Library of Scotland

Valentine urls from the #loveheritage day on Twitter

I was hoping for more collections of valentines to be surfaced through the Twitter's #Askarchivists #loveheritage initiative, and I was not disappointed.  Many collections put valentines online through Flickr or blogs. Here are some urls to explore:

Cambridge Tower Project blog on valentines (C) Cambridge University Library

Ulster Museum

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.389792327701804.111431.114762798538093&type=3&l=adac465970

National Museums Northern Ireland

http://www.nmni.com/Home/Online-Collections?Cat=502172&SubCat=502181

Cambridge Tower Project

http://vl203.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/happy-valentines-day/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

http://vl203.wordpress.com/tag/valentines/

http://vl203.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/valentine-season/

American Historical Association

http://blog.historians.org/resources/1570/valentines-day-for-history-lovers?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/gallery/2012/feb/13/valentines-day-history-in-pictures#/?picture=385915411&index=7

Europeana

http://blog.europeana.eu/2012/02/happy-valentines-day/

Museum of London blog

http://www.mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/blog/the-more-unusual-valentine-cards-in-our-collection/

Museum of London Collection

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Collections-Research/Collections-online/group.aspx?g=group-18638

Glamorgan archives

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33508309@N02/sets/72157629313501949/

Mass Observation archive

http://yfrog.com/oblbdfdj

Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

http://birminghammag.posterous.com/valentine-of-the-day-sealed-with-a-kiss-or-30

http://birminghammag.posterous.com/valentine-of-the-day-beauty-is-in-the-eye-of

http://birminghammag.posterous.com/vinegar-valentines-for-the-one-you-love-to-ha

http://birminghammag.posterous.com/tag/valentine  (= all posts so use this)

V&A

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O543693/print-first-british-st-valentines-day/

Postal Heritage Museum

http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/valentines-day/

http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/page/valentine-postcards

About ‘comic’ valentines from Times Archive

http://twitpic.com/8jqpuv

About valentines

http://twitpic.com/8jrezy

New York Public Library

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150104801027351.294683.21557622350

History wired

http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=240

National Archives of Scotland

http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/120208.asp

Herbert Art Gallery

http://ow.ly/i/sxsu

Beamish Museum

http://www.beamish.org.uk/valentines-day/
National Library of Ireland
http://www.nli.ie/blog/index.php/2012/02/14/the-course-of-true-love/