The centre, to be based in upgraded premises at Lochaber College in Fort William, will allow important national and international archives to be returned to the area. It will also mean vital personal collections will be saved for future generations.

It follows a long campaign to create the facility which will be operated by Highland Council.

Three rooms at the An Aird-based college have been made available adjacent to the registry office. One room will be used as a public search room; a second for staff use and a third, larger room is being fitted out as an archive repository.

The council is currently in the process of recruiting a senior archivist and assistant archivist to staff the centre.

The Lochaber archive centre will form a key component in the local authority's archive strategy which is based on a "hub and spokes" model, with the hub centre in Inverness linked to centres in areas throughout the Highlands.

Councillor Michael Foxley has campaigned for more than ten years for the establishment of the facility.

He said: "I'm delighted this centre is on track for opening in November although it is slightly disappointing it's not going to be open in time for the Royal National Mod in October. It is a project I and the late Iain "Dubh" Macdonald, Iain Thornber and the council's former area manager, John Hutchison, fought long and hard for.

"It's an extremely important project for Lochaber and an enormous amount of work has gone into the project which I'm sure will be popular with locals and also visitors to the area who wish to research family histories."

Highland historian Iain Thornber has been working on and promoting an archive for Lochaber for the past 20 years and is very pleased to see the project come to fruition.

He said: "It's been a long struggle as initially dusty papers are often not seen as a priority locally until it is realised just what an archive can produce. It is only when it is up and running we wonder how we managed without one.

"An archive in Lochaber will not only promote its long and interesting history, it will also help stop the destruction of papers and photographs. It will be of inestimable value for planners, historians, teachers, children and students who want to work on local projects."

Mr Thornber's recently acclaimed book, The Cameron Collection, is a fine example of what can be produced from a local archive.

He believes the centre will provide a springboard for more research into the history of Lochaber and the West Highlands and bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds to the local economy by providing an important tourist facility.

He added: "Historians over the centuries have maintained that the further we can look back, the more we can look forward.

"By having a proper archive and professional archivist in Lochaber many important records and papers currently stored in museums are record offices throughout the UK can be brought home and made more widely available locally.

"This will save having to drive to Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh and elsewhere to do local research."

The National Archives of Scotland has already committed to transferring the records of the Lochaber Presbytery. And Highland Council's library service is committed to transferring its holdings of microfilmed Census returns from 1841-1901 and old parish registers for the Lochaber area up to the year 1855.

s.taylor@lochaber-news.co.uk

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