User:Karlalbaker

About me

I am Karla Baker and I am the Bartholomew Archive Curator based at the Maps Reading Room of the National Library of Scotland. I am originally from Wiltshire but I have lived in Scotland since 1998. I have an MA (Hons) in Archaeology from the University of Edinburgh and a PGDip in Archives and Records Management from the University of Dundee.

Work experience

I have worked at the National Library of Scotland since 2005 and have curated the Bartholomew Archive since 2007. I have researched the archive extensively and I have developed a particular interest in the people who worked for the firm. I am passionate about our cultural heritage and I am always keen to engage audiences with historic materials. My work with the archive has included mounting exhibitions, talking to visiting groups, capturing oral histories and working with artists during a creative residency. I write a curatorial blog and have been published in a wide variety of journals and monographs. In 2013 we launched the Duncan Street Explorer, an innovative way for audiences to access and experience archival material. Information about the Bartholomew Archive can be found through the Collins Bartholomew Wikipedia entry or through the National Library of Scotland's Bartholomew Archive website.

Before coming to the Library I worked in a wide variety of roles both in the United Kingdom and overseas. I am a keen volunteer and have worked with organisations such as the Queensland Museum Loans Department and Paxton House, which is in the Scottish Borders.

Publications

Monographs

• Survey Atlas of Scotland: Limited Edition "'The very prince of cartographers: A biographical sketch of John George Bartholomew" (2012)
• Migratory Lines: Navigation across disciplines "Crowd Sourcing in the Nineteenth Century: The experience of John Bartholomew & Son Ltd." (2013)

Journals

Cairt, the newsletter of the Scottish Maps Forum

• 'Duncan Street Explorer', pp. 1-2 and 'Bartholomew Archive Creative Residencies', pp. 4-5, Issue 23 (July 2013
• 'Bartholomew Archive update', p.4, Issue 21 (July 2012)
• 'The location that wasn’t: The story of Bartholomew and Grange Loan', pp 6-7, Issue 19 (July 2011)
• 'Bartholomew Archive update', p.3, Issue 18 (January 2011)
• 'Bartholomew Archive update', p.6, Issue 17 (July 2010)
• 'Bartholomew Archive update', p.7, and 'Conceptual advertising at John Bartholomew and Son, Ltd', pp 6-7, Issue 15 (July 2009)
• 'Bartholomew Archive update', p.4, Issue 14 (January 2009)

Discover NLS, the National Library of Scotland's magazine

• 'The world at their fingertips', p.22, Issue 22 (Winter 2012)
• 'Just three questions – Old Spice', p.22, Issue 20 (Winter 2011)
• 'Curator’s choice', pp.12-13, Issue 19 (Summer 2011)
• 'Not just black and white', p. 11, Issue 15 (Spring 2010)
• 'The man behind the map', pp.20-23, Issue 12 (Summer 2009)

The Geographer, the newsletter of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society

• 'Putting Scotland on the Map: The World of John Bartholomew and Son', p.19, (Winter 2012/13)
• 'Philp's Comic Map of Scotland', p.10, (Summer 2011)
• 'The Bartholomew Archive', pp.10-11, (Winter 2009/10)

History Scotland

• 'Putting Scotland on the Map: The World of John Bartholomew and Son', Vol.9, No.2 (March/April 2013)
• 'From Cape to Cairo', p.5, Vol.10, No.4 (July/August 2010)