Digitised copy of a letter from Hugh MacDiarmid (factor to the Duke of Argyll) to A M Cunynghame Esq., Surveyor General, General Post Office, Edinburgh, dated 25 May 1891.
The letter discusses the best route for conveying the mail and a proposed route through Oban, Tobermory, Coll, Tiree and Mull, including Bunessan and Pennyghael. The letter also mentions: transport links, particularly trains and boats, including arrival and departure times; a comparison of population sizes in Tiree, Coll and Bunessan; the need to consult the Duke of Argyll on the matter; the speed of mail delivery and that it it was previously possible to get to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh in one day.
From the archives of the Dukes of Argyll at Inveraray Castle, made available through the Written in the Landscape project.
Digitised copy of a letter from D MacInnes to Lord Archibald Campbell, 7 April 1885.
In the letter MacInnes (4 Battery Terrace, Oban) describes a conversation with an unnamed Tiree man who was born and brought up on the farm of ‘Hianous’ (perhaps Heanish). This unnamed man believes that the people of Tiree are better treated than on any other estate, but that only one half of the population can afford a comfortable living. He describes the situation on the farm of Scarinish, and mentions Sandy MacLean. He writes that four of the crofts there each maintain a horse, two cows, and a ‘stirk or two’ for £15 rent, and that the tenants have ‘unrestrained liberty’ to use as much sea ware (seaweed) as they like for manure and kelp making.
From the archives of the Dukes of Argyll at Inveraray Castle, made available through the Written in the Landscape project.
Book ‘The Hebrides at War’ by Mike Hughes, 1998. An illustrated account of the men and women who served and lived in Oban and the Hebrides during World War II. From the belongings of the MacDonald/MacCorquodale/MacLean family of Kenovay.
Black & white photograph of GPO engineer Donald Quintin Campbell standing at the GPO’s Test Desk in Oban in the late 1970s. Donald, or Donnie or DQ as he was known, was one of the first and longest serving telephone engineers on Tiree.
Softback book ‘Seòl mo Bheatha – Turas eadar Croit is Eilean is Oilthigh‘ by Dòmhnall Eachann Meek, 2019. Autobiography in Gaelic of Donald Meek’s life on croft, island and university, from his birth in 1949 to the present day. Donald was brought up at ‘Coll View’, Caoles. Signed by Donald to An Iodhlann.
Softback book ‘Shore Lines – word pictures from an island’ by Donald E Meek, 2019. A collection of verse in English composed by Donald Meek, Caoles, about his life on Tiree from the 1950s to the present. Signed by Donald for An Iodhlann.
Photocopy of a tri-fold brochure from an exhibition by the Oban Art Society of works by Duncan MacGregor Whyte (1866-1953) and his wife, Mary Bernard (1870-1946), in St. Columba’s Church, Oban in September 1984. Includes biographies and lists of named works. The MacG Whytes built The Studio in Balephuil.
