South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture

Photograph by William Graham. Object record.

R900: Rediscovering Rutherglen digitisation project

South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture Museum Service has been awarded £12,100 funding from Museum Galleries Scotland to digitise 900 objects in the Rutherglen museum collection and make the object records available online and via touchscreen in Rutherglen Library, creating a legacy for the town during its special 900th anniversary year.

Throughout 2025 and 2026 the museum team will work with the Rutherglen Heritage Society and Library colleagues, and carry out public consultation to determine which museum collection objects hold the most significance to Rutherglen residents. We would love to hear your views, stories and responses to objects held in the museum collection, helping us shape this project to meet the needs of the Rutherglen community. A further aim of the project is to find a more permanent solution for securely displaying the Rutherglen collection locally in the future.

The museum service has successfully completed the R900:Rediscovering Rutherglen project's first digitisation phase. We have enlisted the help of Iona Shepherd and during the last week of November we have photographed over 200 objects. We are also sharing photographs from our Rutherglen collection in our social media, inviting everyone to share their memories and knowledge in the comments. You can see everything we have shared when you search for #RG900museum or by looking at our dedicated Photo Folder on Facebook.

A preview of some of the fantastic Rutherglen objects which were photographed with the assistance of funding from Museums Galleries Scotland.

Town Crier’s bell engraved with enamelled lettering: Royal Burgh/ of/ Rutherglen/ 1879	Casket presented to Adam Keir Rodger by the Rutherglen East United Free Church, 30 March 1927

As part of this project, we will be doing a public consultation. Watch this space for updates!