| Description | The log book provides a detailed account of daily life in a nineteenth-century rural school in north-east Scotland. It gives the names and duties of the headteacher, pupil teachers and monitors, and contains copies of the annual inspection reports from 1875 to 1909. Details are also given on the school curriculum, including textbooks used, and a scheme for religious instruction is mapped out on page 167. The log book is a good source for measuring the impact of the Dick and Milne bequests, the schemes which significantly raised the standard of education in north-east Scotland. Pitsligo School benefited from grants from these bequests until the change in the school's constitution in 1886; the school's curriculum and staffing level then changed markedly.
The log book is also an excellent source for life in the parish. School attendance is carefully noted by the headteacher, including the reasons for the absence of pupils. The primary occupation in the parish was agriculture, then a labour intensive activity that often involved school-age children. Thus the rhythms of the farming year, of sowing, harvesting, agricultural shows and six-month contracts, come through clearly in the log book. Being close to the fishing port of Rosehearty, the impact of the seasonal herring fishing is also evident. Some events of national importance are marked, such as Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897 (page 298) and the funeral of King Edward VII (page 467). More frequently mentioned are the local events which made up the social and religious life of the parish: communion fast days, the visiting circus, Sunday School picnics and the celebration of New Year instead of Christmas. |