About the Collection

Our collection began back in the 1970s when many schools were being either modernised or demolished and replaced and a number of people involved in the world of education or museums started saving items that were being thrown into skips. As a result, the collection is a very eclectic mix of old school “stuff”. Most of it is very robust, made to last and indeed has survived well. Some items are of more recent vintage, including an old BBC computer.

 Our schoolroom is stocked with genuine instruments of Victorian punishment including the tawse, finger stocks and a cutty stool, as well as genuine Victorian furniture: wooden desks with inkwells and slates, blackboards, a large abacus, a dominie’s desk and a chalk attendance board.

 There are also many old school textbooks and reading books, as well as school science equipment and various collections and items used for object lessons. The shelves hold many tomes useful for research, such as Leith and Edinburgh Education Boards Minutes and lists of teachers. There is also a fine collection of old school certificates and photographs of schools, and school classes from all over Edinburgh and beyond. 

The Victorian Home Life museum area is home to an old domestic science cooking range and genuine Victorian cast iron pots and pans along with other household items, including an enormous mangle and a range of irons, gas, electric and the original cast iron flat iron. Many of our items can be, and indeed are handled by visitors.

 For more information about the collection, please email our administrator at histedcentre@gmail.com