SELCIE is a collective of researchers, curators and volunteers, drawn from Edinburgh University’s English and Scottish Literature department and Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood.
Sarah Dunnigan and Lyn Stevens lead the team and our current Selcies are:
Ruairidh McCallum
My name is Ruairidh McCallum and I am currently Collections Assistant at the Dorset Museum & Art Gallery. I am a graduate in Classical Studies from the University of St Andrews and Museum Studies from the University of Glasgow. I have loved reading since childhood and museum collections work is one of my passions, so working with the book collection at the Museum of Childhood was a fantastic experience.
Kim Walker
Kim is currently a Visitor and Monument Assistant for Museums and Galleries Edinburgh. She has always had an interest in anything to do with fairies, legends and fairytales, letting her imagination run wild that there was more to the world than what can be seen with the naked eye. From a young age, she always hoped to see the little people that lived amongst the moss and the flowers of her small garden. These passions have never left, instead they have materialised themselves into a love for illustrations and art that depict fairy world. Kim was inspired to become part of the SELCIE project to help uncover the link between nature and mental health that can be found in children’s literature, a topic that is close to her heart. She looks forward to sharing with her colleagues and the wider community, the treasures that can be found in the Museum of Childhood’s collection of books.
Victoria Watson
Victoria moved from Ireland to pursue a history degree at the University of Edinburgh. During her BA, she developed a strong interest in eighteenth-century women’s history and material culture, areas in which she is now pursuing postgraduate study. Her passion for history is not just limited to her academic career, but heavily spills over into her personal life and continually leads her to interesting volunteering roles with unique projects. Her current role with the Museum of Childhood is a perfect example of this! Here, she is part of a small team working to create an exhibition about nature in children’s literature. It is through this project that she has become a part of SELCIE.
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Alkisti Kallinikou
Alkisti comes from Athens, Greece where she grew up among children’s classics and the stories she created herself. After navigating the corporate world for a few years, she found her true calling and returned to academia. At the University of Edinburgh, she is now studying for a PhD in children’s and young adult literature using an interdisciplinary approach that combines critical content analysis and psychology. Alkisti is particularly interested in the ways people use narratives to understand both their world and themselves and she is thrilled to join SELCIE to look at how stories and nature come together during our childhood experiences.
Rina Teske
Rina Teske has studied Education & Literature (BA) in Germany and holds an MSc in Literature & Society from the University of Edinburgh. Throughout her studies, Rina has focussed on socially-engaged children’s literature from the 18th century through to today, researching how stories for and by children have historically shaped and continue to inform children’s identities, particularly in environmental and multicultural spheres. Since graduating, Rina has worked in libraries and environmental education-focussed non-profits, promoting equitable access to resources, literacy, and knowledge exchange.
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Sarah Dunnigan
Based in English & Scottish Literature at Edinburgh University, Sarah teaches and writes about Scotland’s medieval and renaissance literature, early women writers, ballads, and fairy tales.
She is co-editor (with Danielle Howarth) of A Little History of Children’s Literature as seen through the collection at Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood (2018); (with Shu-Fang Lai) of the essay collection, The Land of Story-Books. Scottish Children’s Literature in the Long Nineteenth Century (ASLS, 2019); and has edited Violet Jacob’s fairy tale collection, The Golden Heart (1904), and Scottish Folk & Fairy Tales: Fables, Folklore, and Ancient Stories (2022). Her mother’s love of fairy tales and folklore was an early and enduring inspiration, and she is delighted to be working on the Nurture through Nature project, as it combines her passions for children’s books, gardening, and ecotherapy!
Lyn Stevens
Lyn Stevens is a Curator at the Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh and leads the cataloguing project, which aims to widen access to the Museum’s stored book collection.
The Museum established in 1955, was the world’s first Museum of Childhood and has the largest collection of childhood related material. The Museum holds approximately 20,000 books of all types, ranging from the 18th century to the present day. Lyn is delighted that the SELCIE project has been able to add knowledge and enthusiasm to the book collection project. Her other current projects are researching Edinburgh’s Free Kindergarten movement in the early 20th century and creating more representative displays at the Museum of Childhood. In addition to her role at the Museum of Childhood, Lyn also works as a Registrar at the National Museums of Scotland.
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Since our inception in 2016, SELCIE has been very lucky to have worked with so many student volunteers at the University of Edinburgh who have given so much of their time and energy. You can see a list of all our former volunteers on our website (‘Former Selcies’).
