Glen Mhor Distillery, Inverness: Research in Progress

Abstract

Jason Julier’s piece is on Glen Mhor distillery and his website www.glenmhorwhisky.com where he has worked to collect and collate materials relating to the distillery into an online repository. Jason started this archive as a passion project in 2021 relying on being able to source materials from a variety of different places, meaning it is not a typical business archive created by professional archivists. Nevertheless, Jason’s piece provides us with another aspect on the relationship between businesses and archives which resides in the informal space where collectors and amateur archivists come together (facilitated in no small part by modern technology such as blogging platforms) to create something accessible which would otherwise be lost to time. Collecting and collating materials from disparate sources, Jason has worked for several years to develop the website into a repository of digitised archival materials including photographs, records, letters, and short biographies relating to the inverness-based distillery that operated from 1892 until it closed in 1983. In his article he provides a reflection on how the archive came into being, the processes by which he was able to develop it, and some of his reasoning for undertaking the work. What is interesting about Jason’s story and approach is his refusal to turn the work into a book, but instead to have it as a living and evolving archive which can be added to, repositioned, and reconfigured in different ways as and when new materials become available.

The whisky industry has numerous different projects and books written by amateur archivists and historians, driven by their interest in the industry and particular distilleries and brands. Their invaluable work in creating archives through cataloguing materials that are otherwise often either lost or locked away allows for wider and deeper interrogation of one of Scotland’s most iconic and important industries which has been historically difficult to access. Technology plays a critical role in this with the internet offering both a place for hosting and accessing materials through formal and informal networks. Jason Julier’s article details how his work on Glen Mhor has benefitted both technology and the goodwill of people in supporting the creation of this fascinating and easily accessed archive.