The Twelve Days of Christmas (Museum Mix)

A Two-handled Pot

Exhibit is a tool that was developed at the University of St Andrews to allow students and researchers to interact with objects digitally when they are difficult to access physically. Digitised material now includes 3D models, manuscripts, muniments, rare books, artworks, and photographs.

This clay pot is an example of the results that can be achieved through this tool. Have a look at the Exhibit for this object.

Three Wooden Boards

Our Collections consist of around 115,000 artefacts and specimens reflecting more than 600 years of academic enquiry, creativity and innovation. 

These three boards are carved with the names of St Andrews students – can you read any of them? And do you know where these boards were originally located?

Four Swiss Cowbells

The Collection of Historic Scientific Instruments is a Recognised Collection of National Significance. It comprises over 500 items illustrating the history of teaching and research in Natural Philosophy, Physics and Astronomy and the physical sciences in the University over a period of five centuries.

These four brass cowbells on a wooden stand were used for their acoustic function. Pitch is marked on each of the bells.

Five Glass Thermometers

The Chemistry Collection contains a broad selection of equipment and apparatus used in the teaching of chemistry from 1811, from balances and polarimeters to glassware and retorts.

These five small precision thermometers contain mercury and have an internal centigrade scale. They are held in a case which also includes a note dated 1931 and signed Dr John Dewar. Do you know who Dewar was?

Six Common Starfish

Our Zoology Collection includes a large number of wet specimens like the one in the picture, which are preserved in fluid. The specimens are fixed in either formalin (formaldehyde aqueous-based solution) or ethanol (80% concentrate Industrial Methylated Spirit).

As these preservative fluids auto-dilute, part of this Collection’s ongoing care is to ensure the wet specimens are never… dry. This takes time and expertise, but it is very rewarding, as it gives them a new life.

Seven Men Playing Golf

Town, gown, and… golf! Our Collection tells stories about the University, but also about St Andrews itself. Some argue that the two are, at times, impossible to tell apart. It only makes sense to have some records of the history of Golf.

This photograph is part of the Buchanan Collection, which includes seven late-19th and early-20th century photographic albums. Will that putt be successful?

Eight Sounding Rods

Another example from the Historic Scientific Instruments Collection, this set of eight wooden sounding rods would have played a full octave. These instruments would have been dropped to produce the note marked on their label.

Caring for these objects is part of our mission, as their existence attests to the University’s long history of learning, experimenting, and advancing knowledge.

Nine Animals in a Painting

Yes, we have got art as well!

The Boswell Collection was inaugurated in 1995 by Margery Boswell as a memorial to her late husband, and it is rich with diverse treasures from the best of Scottish Contemporary art.

This work is by Edward Summerton, prominent multi-disciplinary artist whose practice often focuses on nature.

Check out the Boswell Collection at this link.

Ten Speckled Eggs

The Bell Pettigrew Museum houses, in its extensive display areas and stores, the University’s Zoology Collection of c.13,500 specimens.

Documentation about the acquisition of specimens such as these eggs is vast, but not all of it is yet reflected in our Catalogue. Provenance research projects help us understand where our Collections come from, and uncover the involvement of individuals – especially women – who contributed to their survival.

Eleven Green Leaves

This artwork was produced at the beginning of the 1900s by MacGeorge, a Scottish Artist born in a small town in Dumfries and Galloway.

Scottish artists are well-represented in our fine art collections, which include works by renowned personalities such as Sir Henry Raeburn, David Wilkie, William Aikman, Thomas Duncan, Sir James Guthrie, George Fiddes Watt, and Beatrice Huntingdon.

Twelve Irish Arches

This photo is part of a series taken in Northern Ireland for the James Valentine firm, which began operation in 1851 in the city of Dundee, Scotland.

The primary outlet for the views produced was the leisure and tourist market, and the subjects were the scenes associated with this. Stately homes, historic ruins, great open spaces, beaches, the grandeur and curiosity of nature, and great engineering feats formed the basis of the firm’s repertoire – samples of which are included in our extensive James Valentine Collection.