The West Highland Museum, founded in 1922 and located in Fort William, is dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich history and culture of the West Highlands. Our mission is to inspire, educate and engage visitors through diverse collections, including Jacobite artefacts, Gaelic heritage and WWII Commando history. Housed in a historic former bank building, the museum is a valued community hub and educational resource.
Volunteers play a vital role in helping us provide a welcoming and enriching experience for all and in 2026 we will recruit our first cohort of remote volunteers to work with us on cataloguing our Alexander Carmichael Collection.
What will you be doing?
The Museum cares for a significant part of the Alexander Carmichael Collection which is an important collection of Gaelic material culture. In 2011-12 the collection was photographed by the University of Edinburgh’s Carmichael Watson project. The catalogue of digital photographs was provided to the Museum in 2020 and individual images have been utilised on social media, on our website, on our WHM100 digital gallery and on eHive (our collections management system). The photographs need to be linked to the objects on eHive and shared to the public domain. The university catalogued the collection and have agreed to provide data to the Museum. We need your help to link the photos and information to the individual object records on eHive.
You will read through the digitised records, searching for the stories that we can use to make educational materials, digital content or displays, while also manually linking them to their records on our collections management system – eHive. This project will provide data to the HERITALISE project which aims to revolutionise how we document and understand cultural heritage.
What are we looking for?
We are looking for people who are interested in Scottish Highland life, and in particular Gaelic culture, who:
Have access to the internet and experience of navigating digital databases
Are comfortable using online meeting platforms
Enjoy reading and researching historical topics
Are comfortable volunteering remotely
Are able to work as a team with other volunteers and staff
Are respectful of people of all backgrounds and abilities.
What difference will you make?
You will help us to catalogue and make the stories of the Alexander Carmichael Collection accessible to the world. You will contribute to our mission:
To collect, conserve and present a comprehensive range of objects of historical and cultural importance which illustrate the history of the West Highlands in an attractive and informative way.
To make the museum a focal point in Lochaber, a place of which local people can be proud and which offers a valued resource for information and education
To offer local people and visitors not only an enjoyable experience, but also a substantial insight into the history of the West Highlands.
How will we support you?
We will provide you with a virtual induction into the West Highland Museum and the project with plenty of opportunity to ask questions. We will provide online training in accessing the digitised materials, in connecting them to eHive and completing the simple form to record the stories you find.
You will have the option to join an online community with other volunteers in which you can chat, share experiences and ask questions. Our project team will also be available by email appointment to troubleshoot any particular challenges that might arise.
Time commitment
We ask that you commit 3 hours to the induction and training. After that, the time you spend working on the project is up to you (we recommend 1-2 hours a week).
How to apply
To apply, please fill out this short google form –
The application portal has been paused. Thank you for those who have applied
(or submit a short video with your responses if that suits your communication style better to heritalise@westhighlandmuseum.org.uk) – telling us about any previous experience you have had in volunteering, working with archives and your information technology (IT) skills. We will then set up a time to chat with you about the project and check that we are a good fit for working together.
Please also let us know about any accommodations you might need to take part in the project. Closing Date for Applications 2nd April 5pm