On Abbotsford

¹ Abbotsford Trust.

Abstract

The process of curating a writer or artist’s home and collections rewards the curator with a series of vignettes of their daily life and creative process. However, in this video, Archer-Thompson, the Curator of Abbotsford, explores the significance of a view itself, notably the last view that Sir Walter Scott surveyed from his deathbed through the dining-room window of his beloved home. For the many visitors who came in search of Scott after his death with their guidebooks and Waverley Novels in hand, this window would mark a place in the house peculiarly charged with emotion and Romantic resonance.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Kirsty Archer-Thompson, FSAScot, is Collections and Interpretation Manager for the Abbotsford Trust, the independent charity responsible for protecting and managing the former home and estate of Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), a category A listed house and designed landscape near Melrose in the Scottish Borders. She is responsible for the conservation, curation, and interpretation of the collections, interiors, buildings, and natural heritage of Scott’s former home and estate.