Inside Canna House

In this episode of Love Scotland, our host Jackie Bird takes a look – and a listen – through one of Scotland’s most precious cultural archives: the Canna House collection.

Gathered by Canna’s former residents John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw in the mid 20th century, the archive bulges with an array of Gaelic and Celtic songs, stories, and poetry. When united with Margaret’s not insignificant photography portfolio and the time capsule of household items, furnishings, furniture, and diaries, they tell the story of not just Canna, but of the Hebrides, Gaelic-speaking communities, and Scotland itself.

Canna House is itself about to get a facelift which guarantees better and more open access to the archives for the future. While that work gets underway, Jackie finds out what lies inside the archives. What can be learned from them? How much is really stored there? And what memories have been rediscovered by Fiona Mackenzie, Canna House manager and archivist, as she prepares for the renovation project?