Department of History, University of Aberdeen

Well done to all the participants at 🎮 𝗝𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 (Aberdeen edition)! What a brilliant finish to day two - five student teams pitched their games developed in response to maps and atlases from University of Aberdeen Collections 📜 The games sent players on a exploration of medieval Cologne to solve a mystery, into a demonic alternative timeline of King's College, a horror game about cataloguing and erasing records, a puzzle style two-player where a ghost and a living person co-op, and into the job of a nineteenth-century surveyor. Congratulations to the runners-up 'What Could Have Been' and to the winners 'Surveyor-Fetteresso'! Many thanks to the judges who had a terribly difficult job: Miles Everett and Jane Pirie.

Jackson Armstrong and William Hepburn from the History Department look forward to continuing next week in Dundee with Abertay University & The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum.

𝗝𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 is about helping shape the wider alignments of universities, archives, libraries, galleries & games in making a shared case for creative innovation.

🎮 𝗝𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 (Aberdeen edition) is off to a great start today⚡ At the first of three jams happening this month, student teams from Aberdeen have been engaging with remarkable historical maps and atlases from University of Aberdeen Collections to develop games in a competition over two days. So excited to see the results and team pitches tomorrow! 📜 A fabulous set of collaborations here: upcoming jams will be in Dundee next week with Abertay University & The McManus, and in Edinburgh the week after with the National Library of Scotland. This is all about helping shape the wider alignments of universities, archives, libraries, galleries & games in making a shared case for creative innovation.

❤️ to Kilau Coffee for supplying us with reusable cups, and to Impact & Engagement Accelerator Funding from University of Aberdeen

The foundation document which granted permission for the establishment of the University of Aberdeen has been recognised with UNESCO ‘Memory of the World’ status http://abdn.io/2fk

New books from Aberdeen historians: today we celebrated two recent publications from the Department of History, with fellow staff and students ⤵️

➡️ Northern Isles No More: The story of emigration from Orkney and Shetland since 1700 by Professor Marjory Harper (Luath Press, 2026) https://luath.co.uk/products/emigration-from-the-nothern-isles

➡️ Commerce and the Commonwealth: Business Association, Political Culture, and Economic Governance, 1886–1975 by Dr Andrew Dilley (Oxford University Press, 2025) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/commerce-and-the-commonwealth-9780198807544?cc=gb&lang=en

🎮 Calling Aberdeen & Abertay students for 𝗝𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀, a game jam tournament this June! In collaboration with the Library of Scotland, teams from University of Aberdeen and Abertay University will design games inspired by a curated set of historical artefacts housed in each institution’s own archive collections 📜. The winning teams from each uni will advance to a final 𝗝𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 at the National Library of Scotland. We are seeking to inspire new avenues of engagement with historical collections, to see where this will lead in future.📍 Get in touch if you would like to take part - see flyer for details.

Meeting point update for tomorrow’s exclusive tour of the St Nicholas Kirk! 🤩
Meet us in front of Five Guys at 4:15, then we will head to the tour together!
If you are having trouble locating us or running a tad late, please DM us!
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow, because a small break in between exams is important! 🤓