As part of our forthcoming display from March to April, we are digitising some fantastic material from Kilmarnock Academy. The display is titled ‘Robert Colquhoun and the Kilmarnock Academy Archives’ and is being curated by a group of S1/S2 pupils from the school. A major exhibition of Colquhoun’s work is at the Dick Institute until the end of April.
We’ll post some highlights from the display on the blog over the next two months.
In addition to the school’s extensive archive, we have some invaluable items relating to the school’s history in our collections, for example instructional books from the mid 19th century and the 1876 Prospectus for Kilmarnock Academy. We also have this brilliant programme of the school’s Cafe Chantant, a day of performance and entertainments in December 1926. The cover (above) was drawn by Colquhoun’s teacher, James Lyle. The school was fundraising for playing fields, and raised £550 (the new playing field at Queen’s Drive opened in 1928). Click on the image below to read the full programme.