Introduction

One of the delights of working with such a large and diverse archive as the Sutherland Papers is the chance discovery, the unexpected document that can raise new questions or lead you on to look for more. In this section we have highlighted some of the topics that captured our attention during our work on the Sutherland Papers Project – there are many more to be found.

Amongst these hidden treasures are accounts for Christmas at Trentham Hall in the late seventeenth century and documents telling us about the lives of the Leveson-Gower family pets. Advertisements for clothing, cigarettes, alcohol and chocolates sit alongside documents relating to the third Duke of Sutherland’s foreign travels in India, America and Canada during the late nineteenth century. In addition, volunteers have examined some of the fascinating sixteenth and seventeenth century documents surviving in the Sutherland Papers.

Click on the links below to learn more about these extraordinary documents in the Sutherland Papers.

Browse Extraordinary

Dogs on the Sutherland Estates
Christmas at Trentham Hall
Commercial Culture
Foreign Travels
Hidden Treasures
Famous People in the Sutherland Papers
Renaissance