New Director of the Robert Burns Museum
Brings Priceless Socks to Vancouver
 THE POET’S SOCKS: (L-R) David Lunny with Tony Breen of the Vancouver Burns Club and Nat Edwards, director of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire. |
By DAVID LUNNY
VANCOUVER – Robert Burns never set foot in Canada, but a recent visitor to Vancouver gave us the next best thing – he brought with him a pair of the poet’s finely woven socks, complete with his embroidered “RB” initials and original darning, which were preserved after Burns’s death in 1796.
They were eventually passed down to become part of the collection of personal artefacts and original manuscripts soon to be housed in the almost complete Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Scotland. The museum is to be run by the National Trust for Scotland.
Nat Edwards, the director of the new museum, was the guest of honour at the January 9, 2010 Burns Night held jointly by the Vancouver Club and the St. Andrew’s and Caledonian Society of the City of Vancouver.
In addition to delivering a splendid Address to the Immortal Memory of the Bard, Nat was able to add to the delight of the audience by displaying the poet’s own stockings, which had never before been outside Scotland.
Prior to joining the National Trust for Scotland in April 2009, Nat worked for over 20 years in museums and archives; including the British Museum, Glasgow Museum and most recently at the National Library of Scotland, where he was responsible for the acquisition and re-imagining of the £33 million John Murray Archive.
As director of the Burns National Heritage Park from 2001 to 2004, Nat began the process of lobbying for funding and support for a new dedicated, modern Burns museum to replace the old museum and reunite the world’s most important and extensive Burns collection in its rightful home in the Bard’s birthplace.
In addition to the museum building, the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum incorporates a restoration of the wider site, including a refurbishment and reinterpretation of Burns Cottage, an opening up of the Burns family smallholding and the creation of new education facilities.
After the Burns Night, Nat – with socks in tow – gave a very informative talk on the museum at the downtown campus to members of the SFU Centre for Scottish Studies before a short stay at Drumkeeran House in Pemberton and a visit to the Olympic venues in Whistler. Both he and the socks are now safely ensconced at home back in Ayrshire!
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