The Carn Chearsabhagh Project aim was to place the museum and the Comann Eachdraidh collection within the local education curriculum and to strengthen the involvement of the local community. A 3-year post was created through the project.

Main Aims of the Project:

• To strengthen the engagement of the local community in the activities of the museum
• To reinforce the way in which the local community views the museum as "their" museum
• To encourage the involvement of volunteers in the work of the museum
• To raise public awareness of the collection and the material culture of North Uist
• To place the museum and the collection within the local education curriculum
• To create a symbiotic relationship with the arts provision at Taigh Chearsabhagh

The Comann Eachdraidh collection (objects, photographs and recordings) were at the core of this project and can be described as a cross section of island social history.

The Carn Chearsabhagh Exhibition:
Local schools, community groups, businesses and individuals were invited to become involved in the selection of objects from the Collection. They were then involved in researching and collecting information relating to the selected objects and their theme. All the research was then drawn together for an exhibition and events programme in Taigh Chearsabhagh from July 03 until October 05. Phase III of the project involved 3 local schools with the project. To learn more about the exhibitions they created click each show

Other Outputs:
As the museum space was used to display long term community exhibitions (Carn Chearsabhagh Exhibition) of the Comann Eachdraidh's collection it was decided to share gallery 2 with the Arts in order to keep local people interested in heritage alive and to explore other aspects of North Uist's heritage. A wide range of short term exhibitions were curated;

§ 'Slates & Semolina - School Days in North Uist': 16 Nov 02 - 6 Jan 03
§ 'Lochmaddy 1600 - 1995': 10 - 31 January 2003
§ '50's, 60's & 70's' Exhibition: 7 February - 30 May 2003
§ 'St Kilda Revisited' - Photographic Exhibition: 10 May - 7 June 2003
§ 'A Crofting Life' - Photographic Exhibition: 1 - 29 August 2003
§ Portraits - Archive Photo Cafe Exhibition
§ 'Linn nan Each/ Era of the Horse': 13 September - 10 November 2003
§ 'People's Collections': 15 November 2003 - 6 January 2004
§ 'Balranald' Exhibition: 5 March - 4 May 2004
§ 'Goular' Exhibition: 3 June - 2 July 2004
§ 'Leabhar Mor'/ Great Book of Gaelic Exhibition: 3 July - 7 August 2004
§ Doctors & Factors: 15 September - 9 October 2004
§ People's Collection 2: 18 December 04 - 28 February 2005
§ Home Front: 16 May - 28 June 2005
§ Old New Scotland: 1 October - 5 November 2005

Carn Chearsabhagh
The title of the project "Carn Chearsabhagh" represents a cairn, or "carn" in Gaelic. A stone cairn is a marker in the landscape, a structure that is built by hand and added to by those passing by. The "Carn" in this project is symbolic of building up knowledge over a period of time to create a lasting marker for future generatitions.