Sample Our Collection

1999.167.14

Photocopied letter dated 22/10/1900 from Heylipol manse to the Duke of Argyll.

Letter dated 22/10/1900 from the Rev Dugald MacLean to the Duke of Argyll informing him that the report on the condition of Heylipol Church omits the decayed state of the windows and suggesting that it might be cheaper to build a new church than to repair the existing one. (Bundle 2504)

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1999.134.5

Photocopied letter dated 18/1/1847 to the Marquis of Lorne from Mr Dick Lander, Secretary of the Board of Fisheries.

Letter dated 18/1/1847 to the Marquis of Lorne from Mr Dick Lander, Secretary of the Board of Fisheries, acknowledging receipt of £690 10/- being half the sum required to improve certain creeks on Tiree.

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2003.94.2

Inside Calum Salum’s shop

Photograph of the interior of Malcolm MacLean’s shop in Salum.

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Courtesy of Mr Iain MacKinnon

The most famous shop in the east end of Tiree was run by Malcolm MacLean, universally known as ‘Calum Salum’. He started the business in 1938, and expanded after the War into an old RAF hut from the airfield.

He sold a wide range of goods – tins of food, paraffin, methylated spirits for Tilley lamps, crockery, gas cookers, radios and their batteries, and even larger farm equipment, including tractors. He was the first man to sell bottled gas on the island and was amongst the first on Tiree to set up a windmill on his house to generate electricity.

Sometimes dealing with the paperwork took second place to all his other activities. Inside the house at Salum, the dining table would often be covered with letters and accounts waiting to be dealt with. His favourite saying was: “It’s here, but where?”

Black and white photograph of Calum Salum`s shop.

Calum Salum`s shop in the 1950s. L-R: unknown, unknown, unknown, Bella MacLean (Bella Mhialum), Calum Salum, unknown, unknown, headmaster Donald O. MacLean.

2003.94.1

Christina MacNeill with her son Malcolm MacLean

Photograph of Christina MacNeill with her son Malcolm MacLean.

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Courtesy of Mr Iain MacKinnon

Christina MacNeill is pictured here sitting at her spinning wheel. Standing behind her is her son Malcolm MacLean. Known as ‘Calum Salum’, he was a keen piper all his life and would play for dances in Salum and from the rocks at the shore to the seals.

Among his many activities, Calum ran a shop and a boarding house in Salum, the latter with help of his step-father Lachie MacNeill. He also ran two cars in what became a very busy taxi service for the east end of the island.

For many years he served as the District Councillor for Tiree. He was well-known for his beautiful handwriting and his stories which entertained visitors and locals alike.

Black and white photograph of Calum Salum and his mother, Christina MacNeill.

Malcolm MacLean (Calum Salum) with his bagpipes and his mother Christina MacNeill (Ciorstaidh Mhunn) with carding combs and a spinning wheel.