Lewis Museum Trust Collection

Dr Donald Macdonald (1891-1961), known as Dolly Doctor, was born in Stornoway and after a successful career in London he retired and returned to Lewis, settling in Uig.  He became immersed in the Gaelic language and culture of the island and began to collect archaeology as well as tools and objects that were becoming obsolete.

He was a keen photographer and would travel around rural areas capturing domestic and agricultural scenes. His ambition was to set up a museum in the Castle Grounds and he established the Lewis and Harris Folk Museum Society to facilitate this.  To raise funds for this project he held public exhibitions of his photographs which were actually glass plates which were projected using a magic lantern. 

Unfortunately Dolly Doctor died before his ambition could be realised.  The Lewis and Harris Folk Museum Society became the Lewis Museum Trust, and in 1983 an agreement with the Trust led to Museum nan Eilean taking on the care and management of this wonderful collection.

Below are samples from the LMT collection.

Click on the images below to scroll through our image gallery: