RCAHMS (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland) Company Profile

The ten things you need to know about RCAHMS

1. We look after an archive of many millions of photographs, maps, drawings and documents about buildings and landscapes, from prehistory to the present day. They are all available for your personal or commercial use and can be browsed, copied or purchased both in person or online.
2. Our survey teams travel across Scotland, from St Abbs to St Kilda, to investigate, photograph and record our changing architecture and archaeology, both on the ground and from the air.
3. Our expert staff are passionate about their work and love to share it through talks, publications, exhibitions and our award-winning community outreach programmes.
4. We add around 100,000 new items to our Collection every year, including archaeological and architectural drawings as well as aerial and historic photographs. They come from our survey teams, as deposits from organisations and businesses, and as personal gifts and bequests.
5. Our National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP) has over 1.6 million images of Scotland, and many millions of military aerial intelligence photographs from across the globe. One of the largest and most important collections of its kind in the world, it is used in everything from television documentaries to bomb disposal work.
6. The web services we deliver receive over one million hits every day.
7. Our searchable website Canmore provides information on more than 300,000 places in Scotland, with over 150,000 digital images. You can also add your own imagery and knowledge to Canmore.
8. We deliver the learning website Scran to over 4,000 institutions, giving students, teachers, library users and members of the public access to 360,000 images, video and audio from museums, galleries, archives and the media.
9. You can buy any of the images from our Collection through our online sales service, and use them in your home or business, in books or magazines, or even on television programmes.
10. We are a charitable enterprise – all our income goes back into developing the National Collection, and making it accessible and available to you.