Decoding Hidden Heritages site launches

From Will Lamb, Professor of Gaelic Ethnology and Linguistics at The University of Edinburgh, via Facebook.

On this auspicious day - Latha Chaluim Chille / St Columba's Day - we have exciting news for anyone passionate about Gaelic folklore... our brand-new 'Hidden Heritages' website (www.hiddenheritages.ai) is now live!

This unique digital resource presents over 5000 Irish and Scottish folktales from the National Folklore Collection in Dublin and the School of Scottish Studies Archives in Edinburgh. The original paper-based texts have been enhanced using semi-automatic AI transcription. It’s the result of three years' hard work on our AHRC and IRC-funded project, 'Decoding Hidden Heritages', led by myself and Dr Brian Ó Raghallaigh at Dublin City University.

Check out our latest blog posts to learn more:

https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/garg/2025/06/09/launching-a-treasure-trove-of-gaelic-folktales-welcome-to-hidden-heritages/
https://www.gaois.ie/en/blog/colm-cille-decoding-hidden-heritages

And please explore the site and share with others. Let us know what you find! Dallaibh oirbh! 

NB: There are a mix of stories in English, Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), and Irish (Gaeilge). 

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

NLS exhibition: Sgeul / Story - Folktales from the Scottish Highlands

A new exhibition at the National Library of Scotland (www.nls.uk) seeks to share the Gaelic folklore of the Highlands:

Sgeul / Story : Folktales from the Scottish Highlands 

Sgeul | Story is an exhibition in Gaelic and English about stories and storytelling traditions.

People share stories every day. A story is kept alive by a storyteller telling it to others. Folktales have survived all over the world, passed on from generation to generation.

Scotland is rich in stories but once upon a time, Scottish Gaelic folktales were almost unknown beyond the Highlands. In 1859, folklorist John Francis Campbell began to collect Scottish Gaelic folktales. He found a treasure trove.

Campbell worked with a team of helpers to gather folktales. They travelled from place to place across the western Highlands and Islands of Scotland meeting with storytellers.

See the manuscript diaries kept by Campbell and the watercolours he painted. In the storytelling area, you can read and listen to some of the folktales given by the storytellers in Gaelic and English.

Find out what stories and storytelling mean to Gaelic speakers of all ages today.

Tha Sgeul | Story na taisbeanadh ann an Gàidhlig agus Beurla mu sgeulachdan agus traidiseanan seanchais.

Bidh daoine ag innse sgeulachdan gach latha. Tha sgeul air a cumail beò le sgeulaiche ga h-innse do dhaoine eile. Tha beul-aithris ann air feadh an t-saoghail, air a thoirt seachad bho ghinealach gu ginealach.

Tha beairteas de sgeulachdan aig Alba ach uair den t-saoghal is beag gun robh fios aig mòran dhaoine air beul-aithris na Gàidhlig taobh a-muigh na Gàidhealtachd fhèin. Ann an 1859, thòisich an t-eòlaiche beul aithris Iain Frainsias Caimbeul (Iain Òg Ìle) air sgeulachdan Gàidhlig na h-Alba a chruinneachadh. Lorg e mòr-ulaidh dha-rìribh.

Bha an Caimbeulach ag obair còmhla ri sgioba de luchd-cuideachaidh gus sgeulachdan a chruinneachadh. Shiubhail iad bho àite gu àite air feadh taobh siar na Gàidhealtachd agus Innse Gall a’ coinneachadh ri sgeulaichean.

Faic na leabhraichean-latha ann an cruth làmh-sgrìobhainnean a sgrìobh an Caimbeulach agus na dealbhan dath-uisge a pheant e. Ann an àrainn nan sgeulachdan, faodaidh tu cuid den bheul-aithris a thug na seanchaidhean seachad ann an Gàidhlig agus Beurla a leughadh agus èisteachd riutha.

Faigh a-mach na tha sgeulachdan agus seanchas a’ ciallachadh do luchd na Gàidhlig de gach aois san latha an-diugh.

The exhibition continues until April 20th. The exhibition space is open during the following hours:

Monday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Tuesday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Wednesday: 10am to 7pm.
Thursday: 9:30am to 7pm.
Friday: 9:30am to 5pm.
Saturday: 9:30am to 5pm.
Sunday: Closed.

Admission is free.

Tha mi'n dòchas gun còrd an taisbeanadh ribh! (I hope you enjoy the exhibition!)

(Source: https://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/sgeul-story/)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Have you used... Tobar an Dualchais?

In April my next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, will be published. To pave the way, every week until publication I will flag up a key site or resource that you may not be aware of if you are new to genealogy, or which you may have overlooked if researching for a while, which might just help with your Scottish research!

This week... Tobar an Dualchais.

The University of Edinburgh funded Tobar an Dualchais/A Kist o Riches website at www.tobarandualchais.co.uk hosts some 50,000 recordings of stories, songs, music and poetry in both Gaelic and Scots, as recorded since the 1930s, which have been sourced from the School of Scottish Studies (University of Edinburgh), BBC Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland's Canna Collection.

Have fun!

* Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet is available for pre-order now at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/17717.

Chris

You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.