The SSE Heritage Collection is made up of an object collection, archive and library which are all cared for and carefully preserved across two of SSE’s sites, when not out on loan.
Society moves on and the vast array of historical artefacts that we are lucky to have serve in some cases as a reminder of how, rightly, the world has changed over the decades to be more inclusive for all and to be more sensitive to cultural appropriation.
Our collection
For everyone
The core of our object collection was donated by colleagues and gathered when our predecessor organisation, the Southern Electricity Board, later Southern Electric, set up The Museum of Electricity in Christchurch in 1983 which later closed in 2013. The objects continue to be cared for and are stored securely.
Some older items were given by the Electricity Council (1957) and its predecessors while other items have been generously donated by members of the public over the last 40 years.
Some of these objects are on long-term loan to the National Museum of Scotland while others are currently exhibited at two SSE sites, the Pitlochry Dam Visitor Centre in Perthshire and the Company’s offices in Forbury Place, Reading.
Our archive records include photography, video, documents, drawings records and more and were gathered from various sites when a massive project in 2014 was undertaken to preserve and digitise these items. Further accessions have been received over the years since and are all held at our Corporate Archive which sits within Pitlochry power station.