THE ANGUS MACLEOD ARCHIVE
PROJECT
The
Book Trust is leading a project to preserve and
make available to the public an important cultural
resource known as the Angus Macleod archive -
the life's work of the late Angus Macleod MBE
(1916-2002) of South Lochs, Lewis. We are working
in conjunction with the Pairc Historical Society
(Comunn Eachdraidh na Pairc), and with the agreement
of Angus Macleod's family on this project.
Angus
Macleod was born in Calbost, South Lochs, Lewis,
and was at various times during his long life
a crofter, seaman, businessman, community leader,
historian, and genealogist. He held many public
positions, and in particular was the driving force
behind the formation of the Scottish Crofters
Union in 1985, and of Cuimhneachain nan Gasgeach
in 1989 to commemorate those who led the Lewis
land struggle in the latter part of the 19 th
century and the first part of the 20 th century.
During
his life, Angus Macleod personally put together
a remarkable archive of written and photographic
material, sound recordings, and artefacts covering
his wide range of interests. The topics include
crofting history, genealogy, fishing history,
oral history and song, settlement names and history,
land reform, and the Church. A significant part
of the material is in Gaelic. The full extent
and significance of the collection will not be
known until the archive has been properly catalogued.
The
main elements of the project, which was launched
in October 2004, are:
- A room in the Ravenspoint Centre, Kershader,
South Lochs, to house the archive and make this
widely available for reference and research.
- Publication of a catalogue of the archive
and introduction to the life of Angus Macleod
price £5 See
Publications
- An annual lecture in memory of Angus Macleod
- the first lecture was given on 19 October
2004 by Professor Donald Macleod of the Free
Church of Scotland College. The lecture
has now been published under the title "Passion
and Paradox".
- The second annual lecture 'Moorland wirhout
Crofters' was delivered by Prof James Hunter
on 18 October 2005
- The third annual lecture 'The Clearances in
Lewis - Truth or Myth?' was delivered by Bill
Lawson on 24th October.
- All the lectures are available to order as
commemorative booklets See
Publications
- A new book 'Back to the Wind, Front
to the Sun' launched at the second Memorial
Lecture. Written by Caroline Hirst the book
looks at the Traditional Croft House and is
based on Angus Macleod's rich written collection
held in the Archive see Publications.
A new
project is in the final stages of digitising the
records in the archive on a website and will be published by
the end of 2007
LEARNING FROM HISTORY – THE NEXT STAGE OF THE ANGUS MACLEOD ARCHIVE PROJECT
The Book Trust is pleased to announce that a new project, entitled Learning from History, will enable the Angus Macleod Archive to remain open to the public and the annual memorial lecture in honour of Angus Macleod to continue during 2008.
Under the project, a Gaelic teacher (Kenny Smith) has been funded by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to lead a research project which will consider how best material from the Angus Macleod Archive (and also Hebridean Connections and the Callicvol Collection) can be worked up and presented for use in schools. This fulfils a long-standing objective of the Book Trust to encourage greater use of local historical material for education. The Book Trust will be funding a part-time Archive Assistant post based at the Ravenspoint Centre, Kershader, South Lochs, to help with the project, and also to oversee the storage of Book Trust publications, deal with orders for publications, and monitor sales.
The Book Trust’s contribution to the project is being assisted in part by grants from the Hugh Fraser Foundation (£2,000) and the Gatliff Trust (£1,000), to whom we are most grateful. The remainder of the cost (some £10,000) is being funded by the Book Trust from its own resources, and an appeal is being launched to give Book Trust members and others who wish to contribute to this important initiative the opportunity to do so. For further details, please contact Alayne Barton on 01851 820946, email alayne@theislandsbooktrust.com , or make a donation by credit card using the PayPal facility on this website.
If funding is forthcoming from the higher education sector, the project could also be extended to Colleges and Universities.
The Book Trust hopes that, if the research phase of the project in 2008 is successful, a further project might follow, concentrating on the production of educational resources for use in schools.
For more information,
visit the centre at Kershader (tel 01851 880737).
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