Ross-shire publisher donates archives to university

Dingwall-based publisher, Sandstone Press, is donating its archives to the University of the Highlands and Islands. The move will make the resource available to students and staff around the university partnership as well as to researchers in the wider community.
 
The donation, which is one of the largest the university has ever received, includes copies of every work published by Sandstone Press since it was founded in 2002. The award-winning company prints books across a range of genres and subject matters. Its portfolio includes fiction by new and established novelists from Britain, Ireland, America and Australia and non-fiction works on the environment, mountain rescue, science, history, current affairs and biographies of Edwin Morgan, Leonard Cohen and Josephine Tey.
 
The donated resource will be held by the Highland Archive Centre in Inverness on behalf of the university. Sandstone Press will continue to provide copies of new books and records and special arrangements will be made to provide access to digital aspects of the materials.
 
Robert Davidson, founder and managing director of Sandstone Press, explained: “At Sandstone Press we are highly conscious of our unique location and of our position within the Highland economy and, in turn, within the Scottish economy. We are equally conscious of the immediate presence and growing reputation of the University of the Highlands and Islands. Our alliance to preserve these archives for future researchers seems significant to me and, personally, I would wish for nothing more than for Sandstone Press to be associated with this dynamic modern institution.”
 
Gary I Campbell, the university’s key account director, welcomed the donation, saying: “We are delighted to be able to accept the archive from Sandstone Press. Such donations build stronger relationships with the local community and allow students and researchers access to material which has been created in the Highlands, but is of international significance.”
 
Ian Murray, chief executive of High Life Highland which operates the Highland Archive Centre, said: “We are delighted to work in partnership with the University of the Highlands and Islands helping to make the archive collections of Sandstone Press available to the wider community. The expertise and storage capabilities of the Highland Archive Centre will ensure that the collection is available to researchers for generations to come.”