The Wighton Database

The Database contains over 1000 records describing Dundee’s Wighton Collection one of the world’s finest repositories of Scottish music.

The Wighton also includes a goodly selection of rare English, Irish and Welsh volumes, with RISM entries in abundance, and many unique items. John and Henry Playford’s “Dancing Masters” and “Apollo’s Banquets” are a particular delight.

The Collection is housed in the Local Studies Suite of Dundee’s Central Library, along with a wealth of primary material from Dundee’s past, including extensive records relating to personalities such as Mary Slessor, Sir James Ivory, William McGonagall, and James Bowman Lindsay.

Search the database by entering key words as a string e.g. “air for autumn”, or use Boolean operators (and, or, not) e.g. “air and autumn”. Synonyms have been added to facilitate searching for archaic and variant spellings. In some cases however, a certain amount of experimentation will be required. The unique subject index, thought to have been devised by H. M. Willsher in the 1950s, may prove of limited assistance with some searches.

Most of the records have comprehensive tune indexing, and Netscape’s “Find” button (or equivalent) can be used to further refine the search for a required tune within lengthy individual records.

In March 2000, the United Kingdom Heritage Lottery Fund awarded £162,000 towards the construction of “The Wighton Heritage Centre for the Study and Appreciation of Scottish Music”. The Centre is scheduled to open by December 2001.

Dundee City Council’s Leisure and Communities Department welcomes enquiries about the Wighton. For further information on matters relating to the Collection, Database, or Heritage Centre, please contact david.kett@dundeecity.gov.uk or write to:

The Central Library
Wellgate
Dundee
DD1 1DB
United Kingdom.

Tel. +44 1382 434154
Fax. +44 1382 434036

You can search the Wighton Database or you can search for 19th century Dundee musical events

Dundee City Council gratefully acknowledges financial assistance provided by the British Library towards the construction of the Wighton Database, and from the Scottish Library and Information Council towards conservation and microfilming of the Collection.

Database development and webspace are courtesy of brightsolid. (formerly Scotland-Online)

The Database and Internet pages are all the Copyright of Dundee City Council 1995, 1998.

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