Dates: 1940s

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2023.15.2

Postcard sent from the Isle of Tiree to a Miss E. Nisbit, of Giffnock, Renfrewshire, ca 1950. The image is an ariel photograph of Scarinish and is in sepia. The handwriting is faded, so the name of the sender is unclear, but the surname appears to be McColl. The content is also difficult to read, but there is talk of the weather, typically, sunshine and gales. The photographic image was taken by Wm. Thomson of Fort William. Two 1D postage stamps feature King George VI, dating the postcard to his reign (1936-1952).

2022.29.12

Hardback edition of A Pronouncing Gaelic-English Dictionary by celebrated lexiographer, Neil MacAlpine, of Islay.

Inside cover board inscribed, ‘A.R. MacDonald, Cornaigbeg, Tiree. Personal Property’.

Gaelic to English and English to Gaelic, with phonetic key.

Re-printed from 1845 first pressing several times.

549pp.

2022.29.10

Compact, leather-covered, Gaelic ‘Biobull / Bible’, produced by Comunn-Bhiobull Duthchail na h-Alba. On the inside front cover is written ‘Cornaig Sunday School. For Mary Ishbel MacDonald [Kenovay], with every good wish for the future, J Gillies, 28/8/46. John Gillies was the Church of Scotland Missionary on Tiree for 17 years (1937-1954), teaching Sunday School in Gaelic and English.

2022.29.8

Hardback book ‘Aids to Anatomy and Physiology – a complete textbook for the nurse’, 1948, belonging to Ishbel MacDonald of the MacDonald/MacCorquodale/MacLean family of Kenovay. Like many others from Tiree, Ishbel became a nurse at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow.

2022.27.1

Collection of articles, poems, photographs and illustrations by Alistair MacNeill of Hynish (b. 1940). Alistair recollects his experiences competing in the County Sports, Skerryvore Lighthouse, the Great China Tea Race of 1866, rock fishing with a bamboo rod, ‘The Wembly Wizards’ Scottish football team of 1928, gathering tangles (seaweed) for the kelp industry, Ben Nevis, a puffer coal boat at Hynish pier. Includes two covering letters with further information.

2022.23.2

Two coloured charts mapping the sea bed around (1) Tiree and Coll, and (2) Barra Head and Skerryvore. They were produced by the German authorities during WWII to enable their U-boats to navigate in these areas.

2022.23.1

Detailed copy of the original hand-drawn weather chart created by the Meteorological Office of the Air Ministry in London for the morning of Monday 5th June 1944. It includes isobars, windspeeds and weather systems in the north Atlantic and notes on general inference and outlook. On the reverse are rows of data collected in various areas, including Tiree, from which the chart was drawn. These data were used to forecast the break in the weather that enabled the D-Day landings on the 6th June 1944.

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