Langholm Made: Conversations with former textile workers
A set of booklets capturing personal reflections and memories to celebrate the unique heritage of Langholm's textile industry
About the project
Langholm Made sought to explore and celebrate ‘making’ past and present in Langholm - a town with a rich textile history that remains vibrant in craft and making today. For Langholm Made, artist and filmmaker Emma Dove collected stories and memories of the weaving industry, whilst maker Deirdre Nelson explored ‘making’ in Langholm in its widest sense.
Making Connections
Langholm Made formed part of a wider project entitled Making Connections, initiated by Upland with local partner organisations, The Langholm Initiative and OutPost Arts, to enable artists and makers to explore and highlight Langholm’s rich history and heritage in textile manufacture. Making Connections consisted of two artist residencies, undertaken by Dumfries & Galloway based artist Emma Dove and Glasgow based maker Deirdre Nelson, and a schools project led by Kirkcudbright-based textile artist Morag Macpherson.
About these booklets
For Langholm Made, Emma Dove recorded conversations with a number of local people who contributed stories and memories relating to the textile heritage of Langholm. The result was a set of seven booklets, each containing a printed conversation transcript, existing as a way to capture and share the personal reflections and memories which celebrate a unique heritage, deeply embedded in people and place.
About the text
The conversations in these booklets have been transcribed using the ‘clean transcript’ standard, whereby ‘fillers’ (such as ‘um’) and repetitions are mostly edited out so as not to distract from the main content. However an effort has been made to try and keep as much of the natural flow of conversation as possible within the text. Any spelling or formatting relating to dialect has been transcribed as true to the spoken word as possible. Use of dialect words vary throughout each conversation (so for example the word ‘you’ might be spelled ‘you’, ‘ee’ or ‘yow’ at different points within one transcript). Spelling and formatting choices have made at the discretion of the transcriber in each instance.
The start and end of some transcripts - as well as some short sections within the conversations - have been edited out when considered to be informal pre-amble, post-amble, or an unrelated tangent to the main conversation. In a very small number of instances, a word, phrase or sentence has also been retracted from a transcript if considered that it could cause unnecessary offence.
The project was funded Creative Scotland and the Heritage Lottery.
Langholm Made conversation transcripts
Katrine A. Eagleson, 13th November 2020, Transcript 1/7 [Download Transcript 1]
Ann Hislop and Margaret (Mag) Wilson, 20th May 2021, Transcript 2/7 [Download Transcript 2]
Margaret (Mags) E. Latimer and Sheila Barnfather, 24 May 2021, Transcript 3/7 [Download Transcript 3]
Duncan Ritchie, Mac Hotson and Mick Ryan, 24 May 2021, Transcript 4/7 [Download Transcript 4]
Ian Maxwell, 25 May 2021, Transcript 5/7 [Download Transcript 5]
Alan Miller, 25 May 2021, Transcript 6/7 [Download Transcript 6]
Ramsay Johnstone and Patrick (Pat) A. Keeney, 25 May 2021, Transcript 7/7 [Download Transcript 7]
With thanks to Ron Addison for research assistance
Project supported by
Lucy MacLeod, Outpost Arts
Judith Johnson, Langholm Initiative
Amy Marletta, Upland
Margaret Pool, Welcome to Langholm
Transcription support
Katherine Latimer
Transcript design
Samuel Sparrow