Responsible for: Managing multiple specialist teams across Collections Services (conservation, collections care, collections management, digitisation analytical science, and library and archives).

Charlotte joined National Museums Scotland in May 2024 and was formerly Head of Records and Engagement at the National Records of Scotland.

She studied languages at the University of Edinburgh (German, Scandinavian and English Language) and specialised in sociolinguistics, Old English, Old Norse and historical Scandinavian linguistics. History has been a key area of enthusiasm throughout her linguistic studies, particularly the Viking period and WW2. She undertook a research project on British and Danish relations in WWW2 at the University of Aarhus (Denmark) on an Anglo-Danish Society Liberation Scholarship, before teaching English at a residential folk high school at Kalø. She returned to the UK to qualify as an archivist and records manager from the University of Wales Aberystwyth in 2001. She wrote her Masters’ dissertation on 19th century antiquarian archives in Herefordshire.

Charlotte has worked across a large variety of archive collections across Wales, England and Scotland, in cataloguing roles (Neath Antiquarian Society/West Glamorgan Archive Service and Private Records/National Archives of Scotland). She has also worked in roles setting up new collections (University of Exeter, Alfred Gillett Trust) as well as moving into management responsibilities (University of Warwick, National Records of Scotland). She has worked extensively with academics through projects at Hereford Cathedral, University of Exeter, Magdalen College Oxford and University of Warwick. She developed particular interests in medieval palaeography (handwriting), archives and recordkeeping whilst at Hereford Cathedral and Magdalen College Oxford, where she was privileged

to work alongside Hereford’s Mappa Mundi and Chained Library, and Muniment Tower at Magdalen. In more recent years, she is increasingly skilling up in records management and digital preservation (University of Warwick and National Records of Scotland).

As well as specialising in archives and records of all kinds and ages, medieval to born digital, Charlotte has worked regularly with rare/modern books and objects, including Point of Sale, archaeology, fine art, costume and shoes, fossils, industrial heritage (shoemaking) and audiovisual collections. She has extensive experience of managing reading rooms, digitisation projects, collection moves and new builds, as well as collection management, governance and engagement activities.

Charlotte has a national profile within the archives and recordkeeping sectors, and has undertaken much voluntary work through the Archives and Records Association throughout her career. She founded the ARA’s Section on Archives and Museums in 2019 and has served as Chair and Secretary. She has served on the ARA’s Board twice, focusing on Professional Development, and led the implementation of the ARA’s refreshed Professional Development Programme, whilst also becoming one of the first cohort of ARA Fellows. She is a long-term mentor and assessor on the programme, which enables her to keep in touch with professionals at varied institutions and career stages. She is currently a Trustee of Hergest Trust (private archive in Herefordshire) and a member of the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board. She is a former member of the UK Archive Service Accreditation committee, representing the National Records of Scotland.

She undertook a part-time PhD on British translations of Nordic children’s books 1950-2000 at the University of Edinburgh, which used modern publishing archives extensively, giving her useful perspectives of a researcher from the other side of the enquiry desk. She has published widely in this area. She is now developing research interests in palaeography, medieval archives, collecting and antiquarian archives. She has recently co-authored two articles on the history of fossil collecting in Street, Somerset, as well as a forthcoming Guide to Cataloguing and Recording Seals for the Archives and Records Association.

Charlotte is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Archives and Records Association and the Royal Historical Society, and an Associate of the Museums Association. She is currently an external examiner for the UCL archive Masters and a dissertation supervisor for the University of Dundee’s archive Masters. She currently tutors in Early modern English palaeography for the University of Dundee and also teaches weekend study schools in medieval palaeography, medieval records and early modern palaeography for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford.

She is a co-editor of Scottish Archives for the Scottish Records Association and is a former co-editor of Archives and Records for the Archives and Records Association. She reviews for Archives and Records and Social History in Museums, as well as Swedish children’s books for the Swedish Book Review (Swedish-English Literary Translators’ Association).

Academic and professional interests: Charlotte currently teaches medieval and early modern palaeography (handwriting) for the University of Oxford and the University of Dundee. She has a PhD in modern publishing archives and translation from the University of Edinburgh. She co-authors the Guidelines for Cataloguing and Recording Seals, to be published by the Archives and Records Association in summer 2024 and is developing research interests in medieval seals and medieval recordkeeping practices. She has recently co-authored two papers on fossil collecting in Street, Somerset.