THE embryonic University of the Highlands and Islands has been gifted a priceless historical record - a bound volume of the final year's editions of Mac-Talla, the world's longest running Gaelic newspaper.
Mac-Talla was founded in Sydney in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in 1892 and ran until 1904. For the first nine years Mac-Talla was a weekly publication and for the last three it was fortnightly. It had a circulation of more than 1500 mostly spread across Gaelic speaking communities in Canada, but also in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand.
Everything in the newspaper was written in Gaelic, from the editorials and news stories to job advertisements. The editor was Mr Johnathan MacKinnon, a Cape-Bretoner whose family had originally come from Skye.
To this day many anthologies of Gaelic song and poetry have Mac-Talla noted in their bibliographies.
The gift was made by Dr Jacquelyn Thayer Scott, president and vice-chancellor of the University College of Cape Breton, during a recent visit to Skye's Gaelic College Sabhal Mor Ostaig, one of the UHI's constituent colleges. The Cape Breton college and the National Library have the only complete sets of Mac-Talla in existence.
Historian Jim Hunter said yesterday: ''This is a hugely significant document and is a very generous gift for the Cape Breton college to have made. What is really unique about Mac-Talla is that everything is in Gaelic and it shows the strength of the language amongst those Gaels who went to North America, and amongst subsequent generations. It is really rather a magnificent thing the college has done, to give us something like this.
During Dr Scott's visita memorandum of understanding was drawn up between the UHI and the Cape Breton college, covering faculty and student exchanges, co-operation in teaching and research.
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