Five museum collections in Scotland have been awarded national significance status, bringing the total number of recognised collections in Scotland to 56.
The awards were announced on International Museum Day. The five new collections of national significance are the Linoleum Collection managed by OnFife, the Photographic Collection managed by University of St Andrews, the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design Collection managed by University of Dundee Museums, the Oakbank Collection managed by Scottish Crannog Centre, and the Art Collection managed by the University of Stirling.
Scotland’s Recognition Scheme celebrates collections beyond those held in national museums and galleries. The scheme is managed by Museums Galleries Scotland and covers collections from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway.
Chanté St Clair Inglis, chair of the Recognition Committee, said: “Scotland’s history is wide and surprising, and it is held and cared for by institutions across the country, in communities that have chosen to say: this matters.”
Nicola Wilson, co-head of cultural heritage and wellbeing at OnFife, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have achieved Recognition status for OnFife’s linoleum collection.
“This award will help further raise the awareness of this important collection, it is a record of Fife’s industrial, social and design history.”
The Linoleum Collection includes the Nairn Elephant, a sculptural box designed by Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi for Nairn Floors Ltd to hold promotional flooring samples, and a piece of linoleum from Paul McCartney’s childhood home.
The University of St Andrews photographic collection contains approximately 1.6 million photographs in formats including negatives on glass and film, lantern slides, prints, postcards and digital images.
The Duncan of Jordanstone collection includes Leah MacMillan’s artwork Fields (2025), created to be touched after the artist was inspired when her grandmother, also an artist, lost her sight. The work is currently on show in the exhibition Making Sense at the University of Dundee.
The University of Stirling Art Collection recently commissioned Christine Borland to create Interior Dialogue (2023) in response to Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture Figure (Archaean), which was installed at the university in 1967.
The Recognition Committee has appointed three new members: Eilidh Lawrence from the University of St Andrews, Jane Rowlands from Glasgow Life, and Fiona Robertson from Newcastle University.
