National Records of Scotland (NRS) has completed the return of thousands of documents that were stolen from its archives and from other UK institutions by a single individual between 1949 and 1980.
NRS recovered around 3100 items in total, mainly family, estate and business correspondence, that its archivists believe were stolen by one individual, Professor David Macmillan (1925-1987).
Most of these documents were found in Canada after his death and the investigation, audit and return of the items to their original collections represents an unprecedented piece of work by NRS.
Of the 3100 items returned, around 2000 were stolen from the NRS archives. These were owned by NRS, deposited by their owners or held by NRS on loan from another institution.
Around 500 of the documents had been stolen directly from other institutions across the UK. These organisations included The National Archives, the University of Aberdeen, Glasgow City Archives, the University of Glasgow, the University of Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland.
Around 500 items were found to belong to collections held by private owners. A further 100 items are as yet of unknown origin.
Alison Byrne, Chief Executive of NRS, said:
"These historical thefts were on an unprecedented scale and carried out we believe by one individual who was a regular visitor to the institutions he stole from.
“Thanks to the highly detailed and painstaking work of NRS archivists, we have been able to restore these records to their original collections and ensure they are available for study once again.
“We have also been working closely with the other institutions affected by these thefts to ensure their items are also returned to their rightful collections."
Work by NRS archivists led them to conclude that Professor Macmillan had stolen the items between 1949 and 1980, when he was caught taking a single item in an NRS building and his access was immediately revoked.
A number of items were recovered through a private sale in 1994 following the deaths of Macmillan and his wife, however, the full scale of the thefts became apparent in 2012.
A researcher saw a reference in an online catalogue at Trent University in Canada to an item which he thought may have belonged in Scotland and raised concerns with NRS. Subsequent research by NRS archivists, working with colleagues in Trent, uncovered around 2900 items which had been stolen by Macmillan.
These documents had been gifted to Trent University Archives after Macmillan’s death.
Through collaboration between NRS and Trent University, the documents were successfully repatriated to Scotland in 2015. Since then, NRS archivists have been working to return the thousands of items to the archives, as well as carrying out an extremely detailed audit of the collections held by NRS which were accessed by Macmillan.
NRS has also been engaging with owners whose privately deposited collections were impacted by the theft.
In an audit of deposited collections accessed by Macmillan a further 200 items were found to be missing and NRS archivist experts conclude he is likely responsible for their loss. This means it is believed he stole at least 3,330 individual items.
Archivist opinion is that the historical integrity of none of the collections has been significantly compromised.
Karen Suurtamm, University Archivist and Head of Special Collections at Trent University said:
"The successful repatriation of these items is a testament to the productive collaboration between Trent University and NRS over many years and to the dedication and expertise of archivists who carefully steward these collections.
“This is meticulous work that ensures valued historical and cultural materials are preserved and properly documented, so they can return to their rightful homes. Archives play a critical role in supporting researchers, and maintaining the integrity and security of our vast collections ensures the integrity of academic study and discovery.”
John Chambers, Chief Executive, Archives and Records Association UK & Ireland, said:
“We are pleased to see that international co-operation between archivists and archives has brought these records home. When these thefts began (in 1949) the profession was in its infancy. Improvements in processes and security have been many since then and it is good to see the detailed work by NRS over many years that has led to a successful outcome.”
Background:
Professor David Macmillan was born in Scotland in 1925. He was an archivist who worked for the Scottish Record Office in Edinburgh in 1949-1950.
He then worked at the University of Sydney from 1954 to 1968. He left Australia in 1968 to go to Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, where he was a professor for 20 years and taught History from 1968 to 1987. He died in 1987. Records show he made annual visits to the NRS archives as a user from 1969 until 1980.
Although he was not convicted of the offences, NRS is confident Professor Macmillan did carry out the thefts given the documents that were recovered that he was known to have accessed and the detailed collection audit that archivists have undertaken.
NRS today maintains robust security measures to protect its vast holdings, which comprise the 38 million documents spanning nearly 1,000 years of Scottish history.
These security measures are regularly reviewed and updated in line with best practice for institutions of this kind and size.
Our policies, plans and processes were evaluated by the UK Archive Accreditation Panel in 2022 and NRS was awarded accredited archive status.
In total, NRS holds around 38 million documents and the physical archive collection, including paper documents, parchments, photographs, maps, fabrics and objects, currently occupies 80 kilometres of shelving.
All owners who have collections deposited with NRS have been contacted directly if their records were impacted.
Images for this story can be found in a NRS Google Drive along with background information. They include a portrait of NRS Chief Executive Alison Byrne OBE and scanned images of some of the returned letters.
NRS does not own a photograph of Professor Macmillan. An image of him is available on the University of Sydney online archive. Please take care to avoid confusing him with living persons of the same name.
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