Archival Intern Final Progress

For Throwback Thursday we thought it might be interesting to look back on the past four months we, the archival interns, have had. We could describe to you how many boxes there were to sort, categorize and organize, but instead how about we just show you:

Middle of organizing…the intern’s office at the beginning of summer (what you can’t see are the two extra tables at the back of the room!)

 

A few of the boxes and stacks of magazines

Sorting The Aberdeen Angus News

There were bins upon boxes upon bins upon more boxes, all heaped to the rim of old sale catalogues, magazines, association documents, and photographs. Our job, as archivists, was to decide what out of all this history was worth keeping, where it should go, and the importance it possessed. The task, at first, was daunting, especially considering that we were not the first interns to tackle this project.

The beginning of sorting 110 years’ worth of sale catalogues

Scanning magazines

More sale catalogues

But over the next few months, things slowly fell into place. Magazines were put in chronological order, trophies were polished and displayed, and binders were created to hold the odds and ends. Anything that could be scanned was, and the acquisition of our new archiving software has made digitally sorting the documents immensely easier. We have become professionals at multi-tasking, and if you need someone to put labels on everything you own, we’re the girls for the job.

From six boxes of sale catalogues we narrowed it down to this bookshelf

The binders full of CAA historical documents

Boxes of sorted and scanned magazines and archival material

Sale catalogues dating back to 1906 are wrapped in plastic for added protection 

Now, our office (which resembled the inside of a paper shredder for much of the summer) looks more like this: 

Although it’s still a little messy and there are still some items to be sorted through, the extra tables are gone and the boxes are stacked neatly in the storage room (thanks, Alan!). It’s been a whirlwind of a summer, and it’s amazing to look back on it in photos to see just how far we’ve come!

Post by Kiani Evans

Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Dunlouise Herd

Drive 10 minutes from Glamis Castle, the home of the late Queen Mother, and you will come across a farm set just outside the county of Forfar in Angus, Scotland. On this property are a herd of 50 Black Aberdeen Angus cattle, and they look a little different. They’re smaller, stockier, and with a deeper build than you would see in any Canadian herd. Take the time to knock on the door of the farm house and sit down for a cup of tea with Geordie and Julia Soutar, and you’d find out exactly how different this herd is.

In 1995, Geordie started collecting a very specific type of Aberdeen-Angus. Having worked with cattle previously while being employed by an auctioneering company, Geordie took a keen interest in the animals and their long connection to Scotland and his home in Angus. So he and his wife Julia decided to start searching for the few animals left that were of true Scottish heritage, cattle that had never been crossed with their North American counterparts.

In his research, Geordie determined that of 110 original bloodlines, only nine were left that would be of pure stock. Through extensive negotiations and travel throughout the United Kingdom, the Soutars finally managed to create a herd of bona fide Scottish Angus. The lineage of these animals can be traced directly back to iconic names such as Old Jip, Pride of Aberdeen, and Queen Mother. Many of the original sires and dams were bred by Hugh Watson and William McCombie themselves. To this day, all cows are only sired with native bulls, some semen dating as far back as 50 years, and subsequently have created a herd that is as close to the original Aberdeen-Angus cattle in appearance as we will ever get to see. The Dunlouise herd, as the Soutars call it, is named after their two children, Duncan and Louise.

But just because they’re old doesn’t mean they don’t measure up to the cattle we see today. The animals produced from this herd have been praised throughout the world, with many seeing new homes in Germany and North America. Dunlouise Jipsey Earl E161 is one of the most famous, having been inducted into the American Angus Hall of Fame in 2016 with the Pathfinder Award, which is awarded to a bull that has consistently produced heifers that meet the rigid requirements of the breed. A producer in Australia will testify to this, as he has over 900 heifers sired by Jipsey Earl’s sons.

On June 26^th 2017, during the World Angus Forum in Scotland, the Soutars had a sale commemorating their 22 years with the herd. There had not been a sale of native Angus cattle like this for more than half a century. The event was highlighted by the sale of Dunlouise Newman S615, who sold to Harrison O’Conner of Montana for $16,000 gns, or more than $26,000 Canadian.

Photos From http://www.dunlouiseangus.com/

Post by Kiani Evans

Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca

Hugh Watson

Undoubtedly one of the most famous Aberdeen-Angus breeders was the prodigious Hugh Watson of County Angus. Just as breeder William McCombie was responsible for putting the title Aberdeen into the name of the breed, Hugh Watson was responsible for Angus. Watson came from a long line of cattle breeders and had essential experience in breeding for ideal traits. In 1808 he became the tenant of Keillor Farm, and began selecting cattle of a very particular nature. Namely, they were black.

Unlike many breeders of the time, Watson was doing something that would continue on into our generation and has become an essential component of promoting Aberdeen-Angus cattle: he was branding, and not in the ‘hot-iron-rod’ sense. He chose to breed for a particular appearance in his cattle and aggressively showed them across the United Kingdom. The polled, jet black animals stood out in a time when multi-coloured beasts were the norm. The addition of him being an excellent breeder saw the animals’ popularity grow exponentially.

 

One of Watson’s most famous animals was a cow by the name of ‘Old Grannie,’ born in 1824, who obtained celebrity-like status after having a record 25 calves and living to the ripe old age of 36, only dying because she was struck by lightning during a storm. Initially she was kept as an experiment to see how long a healthy cow to produce offspring, but she quickly became a much-loved emblem of

the breed and Keillor Farm. Many of her offspring were well-regarded specimens, with Strathmore 5 being purchased by Napoleon III and another sold to Windsor Castle. But the bull of most prominent note has to be Old Jock, calved in 1842, nicknamed “the invincible Jock” for his indomitable presence in the show ring. But that’s a story for another day.

To honour this pioneer of the breed, the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society commissioned a memorial to Hugh Watson at Glamis Castle, home of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and her continuing herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle. In July 2017, the finished work was unveiled during the World Angus Forum in the breed’s homeland of Scotland.

Post by Kiani Evans

Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca