Ancestral Tourism
The Comann Eachdraidh Lios Mor is now a centre that welcomes ‘Ancestral Tourists’. This award confirms that the new Heritage Centre will continue to achieve high standards when welcoming family historians keen to explore their Liosach roots.
‘The Ancestral Tourists Welcome Scheme’ forms part of Visit Scotland’s wider Ancestral Tourism Initiative, which is working with the industry to create a world class experience for visitors to Scotland. Comann Eachdraidh members have had a special training course covering the nature of ancestral tourism, awareness of national and local resources, and how to get further information on aspects of ancestral tourism.
Cathy Carmichael and Margaret at School house January 2004
Building underway 25 May 2006
At last after a six week very frustrating delay, the new Gaelic Heritage Centre building is under way. Meanwhile Cait McCullough the Museum Development officer with the help of volunteers continues to progress the digital archiving of the material donated.
She would like those who have donated to get in touch so that the facts about the items can be documented. The photographer, Margaret MacKichan, has offered any and all of her images taken on her many island visits. if you have any of Margaret’s images she would be interested to discuss how they might be included as part of either the exhibition or research collections. You can either send the prints to Cait at the school house, along with your name and number, or send them as scans in tiff format, by email.
It would also be good to have more information, collected memories, images and /or objects on the following topics:
1 Maritime history and traditions associated with Lismore, especially the Effie and Mary, the Lady Margaret, other Lismore Smacks and their crews.
2 The linen industry
3 Wartime Lismore
4 Weddings on Lismore.
5 Visitors and events on the island, during the Glasgow Fair Fortnight, particularly in the 1950s
6 Travelling Families & Lismore Willow Baskets made on the island by travelling families such as the Johnstons and the Gibsons
7. Peat cutting on Lismore and in Benderloch
8 Former Liosaich occupations: including tailors, smiths, horse-training-trading, etc.
9 20th Century home life before electricity
10 Rhymes and songs of a Liosach child
A small group of volunteers has been meeting to research and share information about the island’s natural history, the environment today and the way people on Lismore have been interacting with, and using natural resources for millennia.
If you have any specimens, images or knowledge about the flora, fauna, land and sea features of Lismore Cait would like to hear from you.
Documentation
The CELM Collection has just received its very own unique identifier from the Museums Documentation Association, the national association who register tiny digits marked in china ink, on objects in museums. Our identifier is: LISDD the LIS bit being for Lismor and DD standing for D’thchas agus Dualchas a people and their place.
The digital age is here
For some time now members of the Comann Eachdraidh have been meeting with Cait and a team of volunteers to formally document the objects, archives and images in the School house collection. This contributes towards the new museum becoming Accredited with the Museums, Libraries and Archives and Scottish Museums Councils and increases the likelihood that one day celebrated items such as the Iron Age Armlet found at Newfield, the Bronze Age Socketed Axe from the Bar Mor and even the Book of the Dean can be returned for exhibition on the island.
As part of ensuring quick and reliable access to the records and images associated with each item in the collection, CELM has secured funding from Big Lottery Fund, via Awards for All, to purchase software and equipment that will support a searchable digital database. This ADLIB database will enable staff at the new centre, residents, visitors and, eventually, virtual visitors to search under a variety of headings, e.g. township or individuals names and get a series of images, records and location information of the items associated with those places/people.
The documentation project will continue for the remaining 19 months of the Museum Development Project, prioritising items to be part of the permanent display approximately 15 per cent of the collection to start with. And, while completing this for today’s collection will be easily managed, it is hoped that as the centre becomes recognised as a research and temporary exhibition facility, more records will be added and added to. For this reason, it is wonderful that a small volunteer team have participated in training, given by Cait the Museum Development Officer and others, building skills for the future and ongoing life of the museum.
On Monday 22nd, Estelle Quick of Highland Museum Services took Cait, Caroline Willis and Gill Bridle through the ADLIB programme and showed them how to enter and make links between records already collected for such objects as this lovely Radiation Rhythm Gas Iron
Gas Iron “The Rhythm” Model 375U (length 170mm), manufactured in the UK by the Radiation Company, whose main business was in Solid Fuel Cookers and Heaters. LISDD:2006.1
– an object that will bring back many vivid memories to those who kept a home and raised families on the island prior to the long-awaited arrival of mains electricity in the 1972 – or this ship in a bottle depicting the South End of the Island and believed to have been made by either Donald or Duncan MacDonald, both of whom were drowned at that very spot in 1896.
McDonald Ship in a Bottle. Museum Object LISDD:2006.2
Seeing how by just typing in the word bottle or iron will bring a treasury of information and images was exciting. Those caring for the objects, family history and other researchers, will discover the conservation needs and condition of the items plus the location of and the written records available. Cait, Caroline and Gill will need time to practice but the training day has given a great insight into new ways the culture of the people and places of Lismore can be celebrated and shared.
With thanks to Awards for All, and to the Lismore Computer Club for their loan of a laptop to support the training day and also to Betty Culver, for her research and collection of written records, some of which we used on the day, to Jim Millard and Bill Willis for their support with photographing the collection and to all those volunteers offering services, research and skills and those who have donated items for the collection, for their ongoing support.