BLAIR SCRAPBOOK - South Shields: Roman and Misc

Robert Blair (1845-1923) was a solicitor who worked in South Shields in the late 19^th century. He was the Secretary of the Excavation Committee set up to explore the remains of the Roman fort on the Lawe in 1875. He kept a collection of letters, newspaper cuttings, photographs, drawings of finds and other related material spanning at least 35 years, from the initial campaign to raise public awareness and money for the excavations through to the years after the excavations had finished when he and other collectors continued to buy Roman finds from local people. He arranged the papers in an album, which was bound together with other associated documents by local historian Amy Flagg in 1957. This volume is held by South Tyneside Libraries. The finds recovered during the excavations went to South Shields Museum (and are now at Arbeia South Shields Roman Fort) while Blair’s own collection of finds was given to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle (now in the Great North Museum). 

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