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Edinburgh University Archives is part of Special Collections within the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh We are responsible for looking after the historical records of the University and related bodies and as such we look after the corporate memory of the University.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Medical Buildings Time Capsule

William Turnbull was born at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, 29 July 1834. On 22 October 1880, he and Thomas Wilkie had been working on the construction of the Medical School for about 2 years. That date found them working on the boiler house chimney and they sealed into the structure, a bottle containing their details, along with some cuttings from The Scotsman. The bottle and its contents were discovered when the chimney was demolished in 1965.

This small collection includes a note written by William Turnbull contating details about him, his wife, Cecilia, and Thomas Wilkie, which describes their idea.

People such as Turnbull and Wilkie leave little trace of course in the official record. This gives just a small insight into who they were.


[Ref: EUA GD5]

(This article appeared previously on the main CRC Blog)

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