Like the National Archives of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland has acquired over the years large estate collections of Scottish landowning families.
Geographical spread of NLS holdings ranges from Shetland to the Borders, and from Galloway to Caithness. There is particularly extensive coverage of South and East-Central Scotland, but most regions of the country are represented.
Particularly large, or well-detailed, collections include:
- The Sutherland Papers (Sutherland)
- The Minto Papers (Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Fife and Angus)
- The Yester and Saltoun Papers (East Lothian)
- The Cadell of Grange and Dundas of Dundas Papers (West Lothian)
- The Maxwell of Monreith Papers (Wigtownshire)
- The Lynedoch Papers (Perthshire).
Estate papers often include series like factors' reports and accounts, rent rolls and tacks [leases], details of household expenditures, mineral exploitation (eg. coal mines on the estate), and much details of local administration, including the erection and running of churches and schools, and the building of roads and bridges.