Rare Gaelic poetry, photographs, literary papers and theatre archives from across Skye and the Western Isles are to be preserved and opened up to a wider audience through a new collaborative heritage project.
Funding from the Archives Revealed programme will support two Gaelic Archive Project Officers in Skye and Lewis, helping catalogue and digitise collections which tell more than a century of Gaelic cultural and community life.
The project is being led by the Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre through High Life Highland’s Highland Archive Service in partnership with the Scottish Council on Archives, Tasglann nan Eilean, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Sabhal Mor Ostaig.
Much of the material has remained largely hidden from public view, despite providing a remarkable record of the language, creativity and everyday experiences of Gaelic speaking communities.
Among the collections are the papers of Rev. Donald MacCallum, bringing together literary works, personal reflections and visual material including glass plate negatives from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Poetry notebooks belonging to Donald Alick MacDonald and members of the MacLauchlan family preserve largely unpublished writing exploring subjects including war, migration and the Gaelic diaspora.
Archives held at Sabhal Mor Ostaig and Tasglann nan Eilean will meanwhile provide an insight into the development of modern Gaelic literature, drama and theatre.
They include papers belonging to acclaimed writer Norman Malcolm Macdonald and records from pioneering theatre companies Fir Chlis and Tosg.
Together the collections capture generations of Gaelic life and creativity, from personal writing and photography to the cultural renewal which helped shape contemporary Gaelic arts.
Cataloguing and digitisation will make the material easier to discover in both Gaelic and English, while exhibitions, workshops and community activities will bring the archives to new audiences.
Alison Mason, Highland Archivist, High Life Highland, said:
“Archives help us understand the people, places and traditions that have shaped our communities.
“This funding will enable us to preserve and share significant Gaelic collections that have remained largely hidden until now.
“By working together across the Highlands and Islands, we can safeguard this important heritage, strengthen connections with Gaelic culture and identity, and help more people discover, explore and enjoy these collections for years to come.”
Colin George Morrison, Heritage and Culture Team Leader at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, said:
“We are delighted to be participating in this project.
“It will not only make an important Gaelic literary archive publicly accessible, but it will also provide opportunities for people to engage with all the archives at the heart of the project.
“We hope that present and future generations will be inspired to respond creatively to the wealth of material the project will reveal.”
The partnership will also develop shared standards for cataloguing and digitisation, creating a longer term approach to protecting Gaelic archive material across the islands.
Archives Revealed is the UK’s only grant programme dedicated specifically to cataloguing and unlocking archival collections, with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and The National Archives.
For communities whose stories live within these papers, photographs and notebooks, the project offers something particularly valuable, ensuring voices preserved for generations are finally easier for today’s generation to hear.
