Am Fasgadh

THE story of Am Fasgadh is told by Dr. I. F. Grant, the owner and founder of the little Highland Folk Museum at Kingussie, in an attractive guide to the Museum, published in 1948 (it is obtainable from Dr. Grant, The Highland Folk Museum, Kingussie, Inverness-shire. Price 6d.). The idea of founding Am Fasgadh first came to me in 1934. The wish that the people of the Highlands could have a museum on the lines of the folk museums of Scandinavia; the realisation that if much of the old setting of our daily life was to be saved, there was little time for delay; the possibility of buying a little disused church at Iona and the receipt of a small legacy all precipitated the decision to form a Highland folk museum myself since no society was taking steps to do so. I called it Am Fasgadh-the Shelter-because it was to shelter homely ancient Highland things from destruction. The first year the exhibits were arranged rather sparsely round the walls. By the second it was necessary to divide the floor space into bays. By the third the building was choc-a-bloc, and either enlargement or a move had to be planned. A temporary sojourn at Laggan was a time of arrested development because the war broke out soon after the move. It was no longer possible to undertake forays to the Islands and all over the Highlands to collect, and there were comparatively few visitors owing to petrol restrictions. The most outstanding event was a threat by the authorities to commandeer the building for storing evacuees' furniture. This called forth wonderful expressions of affection for the collection by numbers of people. The thought of their goodwill has heartened its founder on many a stey brae in carrying on the museum. Finally I found and bought the present home of the collection. It is a pleasant Georgian house close to the station at Kingussie. The layout is particularly suitable for displaying a collection, and it has three acres of ground for the erection of cottages. On Ist June, 1944, the new Am Fasgadh was opened to visitors. The collection tries to show different aspects of the material setting 388

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