Over the course of her career, Cruft became known for her work in conservation of historic architectural sites in the UK, becoming particularly knowledgeable about the history of Scottish architectural and the preservation of archives. Following her degree in 1951, she began this work in three different part-time jobs, serving as a researcher at the Scots Ancestry Research Society, an architectural investigator for the Department of Health, and a research assistant at the Scottish National Building Record (SNBR) at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. In this last position she reported to Haswell Miller, the gallery’s director. That year, historian Colin McWilliam became director of SNBR and together he and Cruft began working to record Scotland’s country houses, many of which had been damaged during the war and were set to be demolished. This effort continued until economic crisis caused both to be laid off later in the 1950s. Cruft again took part-time roles, working for Lerne Grant at the Scottish Records Office as well as for architectural historian Ian Lindsay. She spent two years cataloguing Edinburgh buildings of special interest with Lindsay before Cruft took over as curator of SNBR in 1958. In this capacity she developed integrated approach to Monuments Record with architect Colin McWilliam, collecting a wide variety of materials—buildings, photographs, original architectural drawings, survey drawings and biographical material—together in one location.
