The
firm's extensive archive contains business records (principally
1870s-1980s), including manuscripts, maps, photographs, copper plates,
and glass plate negatives. Bartholomew was a jobbing printer, so the
archive is an invaluable source for publishing and social history, as
well as cartography.
In 2007, the
National Library of Scotland (NLS) announced that the John R Murray
Charitable Trust offered funding of £220,000 over three years
(2007-2010) to enable some of the Bartholomew Archive to become more
accessible.
The remarkable archive of the Bartholomew mapmaking firm came to NLS in
installments over many years, but particularly from 1985 when control
passed to HarperCollins (part of News International) from Reader's
Digest which had bought the firm in 1980. The largest part of the
collection was handed over in 1995 when the
Edinburgh operation moved to Bishopbriggs in This material is in several
categories, some purchased, some donated or deposited:
The Manuscript
Archive (donated)
The Printing
Record (donated)
Glass plate
negatives (donated)
Copperplates
(purchased)
The Printing
Archive (donated)
The Firm's
Library (purchased)
The John
Bartholomew Collection - formerly known as the Bartholomew Family
Collection – antiquarian atlases (donated)
Miscellaneous
(donated)
More information about the history of the firm and the contents of the
Archive is in a leaflet produced by NLS, which is also on NLS website
at:
The
Archive is large, occupying well over 300 metres of shelf space and some
200 drawers, plus specialist storage for glass plate negatives and
copperplates. Until recently the Library has not had resources to tackle
the conservation,
sorting and listing of the collection, apart from volunteer work by
former Bartholomew staff, including John Bartholomew, and some part-time
work by a retired member of NLS staff, and a modest amount of
conservation by NLS staff.
The
firm's extensive archive contains business records (principally
1870s-1980s), including manuscripts, maps, photographs, copper plates,
and glass plate negatives. Bartholomew was a jobbing printer, so the
archive is an invaluable source for publishing and social history, as
well as cartography. 
The
Archive is large, occupying well over 300 metres of shelf space and some
200 drawers, plus specialist storage for glass plate negatives and
copperplates. Until recently the Library has not had resources to tackle
the conservation,
sorting and listing of the collection, apart from volunteer work by
former Bartholomew staff, including John Bartholomew, and some part-time
work by a retired member of NLS staff, and a modest amount of
conservation by NLS staff.