English Gàidhlig

About the Mòthan Archive

In March 2018 Tracy Chipman contacted DASG to ask if we could publish her audio recordings that she made during her work on the Hebridean Folklore Project. These recordings make up the Mòthan Archive, named after the publication Tracy circulated to her supporters during the project. Tracy travelled to the Western Isles to spend time with over forty informants and record their stories, songs, poems and historical accounts.

Some of the stories are personal narratives from family history and some are centuries old folklore. Many of these story carriers and tellers have since passed on, and many of their stories were not written down. It is our pleasure at DASG to make this material available on our website and our heartfelt thanks go to Tracy for allowing us to share these recordings, and to Gillebrìde Macmillan for putting Tracy in touch with us. Transcriptions for the Mòthan Archive will be added in due course, but at present, recordings can be listened to in full, and information about the recordings can be searched (e.g. informants, fieldworkers, year, content etc.).

Appropriate permissions have been gathered from the fieldworkers who recorded our audio files to make them freely available online to the public. In making material available online DASG acts in good faith that our content has significant value and will contribute to the further study of the Gaelic language, linguistics and history. We do however recognise that from time to time material may be published that contains personal data or includes content that may be regarded as obscene or defamatory. If you find material on our website for which you have not given permission, or which contravenes privacy laws, is obscene / defamatory or is not covered by a limitation or exception, please contact us here. Upon receipt of a valid complaint the material will be temporarily removed from the DASG website pending an agreed solution.