Two significant historic collections previously held in storage at Dunollie are to be fully catalogued and made available for study and exhibition thanks to funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The MacDougall of Dunollie Preservation Trust (DPT), which operates Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds in Oban, has received £166,917 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a 30-month project to document and engage audiences with the collection of historic objects cared for by the charity.
The project, which will cost £175,806 in total, will start in October 2023. Called Sophy & White: The Dunollie Collections Unboxed, it will see an audit, review, contextualisation and maximisation of the impact of two discrete collections housed in the Dunollie storerooms ‘Sophy’ and ‘White’.
‘Sophy’ is home to 3,000 items of clan and family dress and textiles dating from 1620 to the early 20th century. These objects have been largely locked down since their discovery in 2002 for safety of the objects.
‘White’ houses the Hope MacDougall Collection gathered in the latter half of the 20th century to record the working and domestic life in Argyll and across the Highlands and Islands. It includes 5,000 objects supported by substantial archive and background material.
Supported through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Sophy & White will include a packed list of activities that will engage audiences digitally and provide more access for volunteers, local people and visitors to the objects stored in “Sophy” and “White”.
Three members of staff will form the Sophy & White project team, which will include new posts for a collections development officer and education and learning officer. Dunollie will also be looking for new volunteers to help support and deliver the project.
The MacDougall of Dunollie Preservation Trust is a registered charity set up in 1998 to advance the heritage of the historic castles and collections historically belonging to the family of the MacDougall’s of Dunollie, Oban. The trust manages Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds, which is open to the public seasonally, and a busy and extensive community programme known as Dunollie Links.
DPT’s chairman of trustees Alison McNab said: “We are very grateful to National Lottery Players for this grant. Sophy & White Unboxed will be an exciting way for more people to access the collections cared for at Dunollie.”
Emma Sutcliffe, DPT’s general manager, added: “There are going to be lots of exciting things happening, so keep an eye on our website and social media pages. We are aiming for the team to get under way from October 2023.”
Caroline Clark, The National Lottery Heritage Fund director for Scotland, said: “With 8,000 objects and hundreds of years of fascinating family and Scottish history to explore between the two collections, we can’t wait to see what is unboxed. This project is about more than the essential work of cataloguing the collections – it has a real focus on making them available for the wider community to enjoy.”