Even at the best of times, most of the Lismore objects and documents that CELM has collected are in store. We can display only a few items each year but the CELM directors are committed to increase access, especially in these months of Covid lockdown. We are doing this by planning to publish as much as possible, including on the internet. We made a start in 2018 with “The Story of Lismore in Fifty Objects” celebrating the best of our objects. This is available for sale from the Heritage Centre shop – just email us at lismoremuseum@btconnect.com for a copy.
The Story of Lismore in 50 Objects
Since then, we have concentrated on internet publication of the unique original documents in our archive. The European Ethnological Research Institute at Edinburgh University has recognised the value of two of these and arranged for full texts and commentaries to be mounted on their Regional Ethnology of Scotland (Sources in Local History) website. These are best accessed by opening the website and clicking on the Argyll & Bute map.
The Lismore Agricultural Society Minute Book 1853
This book, preserved over the years by the MacColl family and donated to CELM by Archie MacColl, Balnagown, provides a great deal of insight into the farming community as it embraced new ideas, in the years of recovery from the Cheyne clearances and the Potato Famine.
Lismore Agricultural Society Minute Book
The Diary of Mary Cameron MacGregor 1868. A Year in the Life of the Lismore Manse, Argyll
This diary, which was “repatriated” to Lismore from the USA and kindly donated to CELM, provides details of everyday life of the minister’s life, not least her great enthusiasm for making cheese, the problems posed by stormy weather, and the fatal illness that carried her away within two years.
Mary Cameron MacGregor’s diary