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- I am just in from the meeting of the school Literary Society. They had a Gaelic debate: “Has emigration been beneficial to the Highlands?” They went into it with great vim and seemed to enjoy it greatly. Several times it resolved itself into little duels in which there seemed to be excellent bits which brought down the house, and retort would follow retort to everybody’s delight… The affirmative won by 35 votes to 14; some did not vote… Stornoway, 28th Feb. 1917
- There have been some fine catches of herring this last week, one day 5000 crans. The Minch has been getting “swept” and the mail-boat is running regularly. Oatmeal scarce; we have had to fall back temporarily on Quaker oats… Stornoway 22nd Feb 1917
- This week’s letter highlights a difficult truth which is very pertinent, given that it is Black History Month. In the course of transcribing the letters we occasionally encounter racist language which is extremely offensive and considered abhorrent today. The fact that a highly educated woman like Mrs Gibson would use this particularly horrible word in such a context reflects the racist ideas prevalent in Britain at this time. We thought carefully about whether to publish this letter on the blog, but we feel it is important not to cover up the past and that we should bring it out into the open, as the attitudes of people in the past are an important part of the historical record. In another sentence of the letter there is a reference to insanity in a particular family. We have not revealed the family’s identity in case this causes distress to any descendants.
- I had letters this week from Wm. B. Macdonald, who is with a battery in France and has had one or two narrow escapes, from J. W. Matheson, in Salonika, and from Alick Thomson, in the training camp at Gailes. He is enjoying the change from the trench-mud. Did I mention that Simon Mackenzie, who has been on a minesweeper off the west coast of Ireland, is now home, discharged on account of his health?… Stornoway, 15th Feb. 1917
- He told us of a mule who had a spite against a man and waited patiently for an opportunity to pay him out [get revenge]. One day the man was grooming the third mule from his enemy. The watchful one saw his chance and laid the man out with a kick delivered below the bellies of the two intervening mules. What do you think of that? E. says they never forget anybody who has beaten them…Stornoway, 9th Feb. 1917
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Monthly Archives: June 2011
Au revoir, Mary!
Yesterday was a sad day in Stornoway Library as we waved goodbye to librarian Mary Ferguson. After more years than she cares to disclose of steely glares and telling noisy readers “shush” helping the public to get the most out … Continue reading
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Lews Castle consultation
Yesterday saw over 900 people take the opportunity to look around the main public rooms on the ground floor of the iconic Lews Castle. If you look carefully at the picture below, you may even see the baldy head of … Continue reading
Council Archives
One of the Tasglann’s roles is to work with public authorities to help highlight the value of archives as well as help them to look after their own. On Monday the Tasglann team held a “drop in” session in the … Continue reading
Friday photo; the Wombles of Lews Castle are we
Today’s Friday Photo was inspired by Wimbledon and Tuesday’s Lews Castle consultation event. The postcard shows the castle with the greenhouses still intact and with the tennis court marked out. On Tuesday between 3pm and 8pm, everyone is invited to have a … Continue reading
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Tagged Friday Photo, Lews Castle, Lews Castle College, sport, Wimbledon
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Taisbeanadh Alasdair MacGilleMhìcheil
Tha taisbeanadh obair am beul-aithrisiche Alasdair MacGilleMhìcheil gu bhith aig Oilthigh Dhùn Eideann agus beò air loidhne bho 5.15f an-diugh. Chuir MacGilleMhìcheil seachad leth chiad bliadhna a’ cruinneachadh sgeulachdan, bàrdachd, beul-aithris agus barrachd bho muinntir na Gàidhealtachd agus bho seo, … Continue reading
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Lews Castle Museum & Archive – community consultation
Ever fancied seeing inside Lews Castle’s main public rooms? Now is your chance! As part of the HLF bid being developed to turn Lews Castle into a museum and archive for the Western Isles a community consultation event is being … Continue reading
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Friday Photo; Refugee Week
The above photo from Stornoway Library’s collection is of twenty-nine Estonian refugees en route across the Atlantic in 1948. The group had initially moved to Sweden in 1944 but had decided that the proximity to Communist Russia was too great, and chose … Continue reading
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Tagged Friday Photo, Refugee Week, Refugees, Stornoway
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Friday photo; it’ll do the peats
Today’s Friday Photo is of some very strong Niseach women carrying home creels of peat. As you can see, the piles of peat are more than a foot higher than the head of each woman, which meant that not only … Continue reading
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The Purest Pleasure?
Scottish Borders Archives housed in the Heritage Hub in Hawick have a great blog. Rachel, the archivist there, posted this yesterday. I particularly like the bit about access in the past having been restricted to papers relating to the Mafia … Continue reading
Friday photo: Of Friday photos!
OK, this is a poor excuse for a Friday photo, but Katie Anne is off, Donna is on holiday and David can’t work the scanner so has had to resort to photography! Above you can see the photograph collection of Stornoway Library … Continue reading
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