Robert Burns House
Robert Burns House
Burns Street
Dumfries
Dumfries
DG1 2PS
Scotland
Website
Museums Manager, Nithsdale
Telephone
01387 255297
Fax
01387 265081
It was in this simple sandstone house in a quiet Dumfries street that Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet, spent the last years of his brilliant life. He died here in 1796 at the age of just thirty seven. The house gives us a picture of how the poet and his family lived in the late eighteenth century. It is now a place of pilgrimage for Burns enthusiasts from around the world.
Venue Type:
Museum, Historic house or home
Robert Burns House
Burns Street
Dumfries
Dumfries
DG1 2PS
Scotland
Website
Museums Manager, Nithsdale
Telephone
01387 255297
Fax
01387 265081
The desk and chair in the study where Robert Burns wrote his best known poems, the famous Kilmarnock and Edinburgh editions of his work, many original manuscripts and belongings of the poet and his family.
Collection details
Archives, Coins and Medals, Costume and Textiles, Decorative and Applied Art, Fine Art, Literature, Music, Personalities, Social History
Key artists and exhibits
- Robert Burns, Jean Armour Burns
- Kilmarnock and Edinburgh Editions of "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect".
Collections services
- Public access available to collections information
- Specialist publications on collections available
- Object study facilities available (enquire in advance)
Robert Burns House
Burns Street
Dumfries
Dumfries
DG1 2PS
Scotland
Website
Museums Manager, Nithsdale
Telephone
01387 255297
Fax
01387 265081
Burns and Graham - A Poet and His Patron
This exhibition describes the friendship between Robert Graham, 12th Laird of Fintry in Forfarshire, and Robert Burns. The poet first met Robert Graham, an Excise Commissioner, in 1787 and the latter soon became a patron and friend, supporting the poet’s application to become an Excise Officer.
In 1793, a two volume edition of “Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect” by Robert Burns was published in Edinburgh. Burns presented several copies to his friends, including the Grahams. Theirs has been cherished by the family ever since. The current owner, the 18th Laird of Fintry has kindly loaned the books to Robert Burns House for this exhibition.
The first volume has a telling dedication to Mrs Graham, written by the Poet – “It is probable, Madam, that this page may be read when the hand that now writes it is mouldering in the dust.”
As well as the books, we have been able to borrow a group of delicate miniature portraits of the Graham family. They include a portrait of Robert Graham, along with portraits of several of his children. A couple of keepsakes from the Duchess of Atholl to members of the Graham family complete the display.
Suitable for
- Any age
Where
Robert Burns House
Website
2012 Foyer exhibition - Down the Dock
This exhibition reveals the story of Dumfries Dock. This narrow strip of land along the east bank of the River Nith was not only the town’s harbour, it served as a gathering place, a pasture and a meadow, provided orchards and nurseries, bleaching fields and drying greens, it was the town’s first ever industrial area, later becoming a tree-lined riverside promenade, and finally a popular municipal park.
2012 marks the centenary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and this exhibition will also focus on the memorial to the disaster which is located in the park, and tells the story of the men from Dumfries who lost their lives in the accident.
Suitable for
- Any age
Where
Dumfries Museum
Robert Burns House
Burns Street
Dumfries
Dumfries
DG1 2PS
Scotland
Website
Museums Manager, Nithsdale
Telephone
01387 255297
Fax
01387 265081
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