A piece of Milford history joins the Donegal County Museum
Dounegal County Museum has welcomed a new collection of 1900s photographs from the McCausland family in Mikford
A new collection of early 1900s Milford photographs is unveiled at the Donegal County Museum.
The museum is unveiling a never-before-seen collection of photographs dating from the early 1900s, along with photographic equipment used over the years to capture memories of the locality.
In 1988, a year after the official opening of Donegal County Museum, the McCausland family donated a significant and important collection of items from their shop in Milford. The shop had just closed following 123 years of business on the Main Street since opening in 1856.
This collection included many personal effects from the family, such as old cameras, film and developing equipment. It also contained a small collection of glass plate negatives, featuring scenes of family life around the Milford area and beyond.
There were also magic lantern slides used for entertainment and learning, as well as advertisement slides for the shop.
“We have looked after the collection for nearly 40 years and have now decided to digitise it as part of an ongoing project to make our collections more accessible in the lead-up to our 40th anniversary next year,” explains Judith McCarthy, Curator at the County Museum. “Our museum collection is continuing to grow, and as newer technology allows us to digitise it, we are very excited to be able to open some of it to the public.
“It's all part of the magic of museums, providing a vibrant snapshot of our unique heritage that continues to amaze us years later.”
The exhibition also includes period toys from the shop and a magic lantern – a precursor to the modern cinema projector from the early 1900s.
“We’ll also be displaying a wonderful industrial portrait camera, from Barr’s Printers in Letterkenny. It’s the kind you see in the old silent movies that looks like a giant concertina,” says Judith. “Camera technology was relatively new back then, so it’s wonderful to see all these people posing for the first time with a brand-new technology in their own homes and around Milford.”
This important photographic collection is one of the largest undiscovered and undeveloped collections of Donegal images from this period.
The exhibition, entitled Light and Magic, will be open to the public for free from October 15 to November 12.