The Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University has served as the regional archives for Cape Breton Island for over 60 years. As a Gaelic speaker from Inverness County, Sister Margaret Beaton, founded the archives based on a desire to preserve and transfer knowledge of the Island's Gaelic heritage, culture and language. Without Sister Beaton's dedicated collecting, many significant documents and stories would have been lost. The collections consist of interviews, songs and stories in Gaelic as well as documents, newspapers, books and correspondence. The Beaton Institute also holds a manuscript group section dedicated to the Gaelic language and the history of Gaels in Cape Breton and abroad (MG 6).
Through the Stòras Gàidhlig Cheap Breatuinn project, the archives has improved records descriptions as well as provided additional context related to the creation and use of the collections. Using keyword tagging, visitors to the Beaton Institute Digital Archives, will be able to browse a selection of Gaelic records and collections according to geographic location and subject area. We are planning to continue working with the Gaelic holdings and are dedicated to increasing access to these valuable resources.
This project was supported by the The Office of Gaelic Affairs - Gaelic in Community Program and the Provincial Archival Development Program. Sincere thanks is also extended to the project partners, Dr. Heather Sparling (CBU), Colaisde na Gàidhlig (Gaelic College), and Baile nan Gàidheal (Highland Village).
Most recently, the Office of Gaelic Affairs funded work on the Donald John (Dòmhnall Sheumais Thoirmoid) MacDermaid Collection. The collection contains dozens of Gaelic songs, stories and interviews. Click here to learn more about D.J. MacDermaid and to listen to the collected recordings: https://beatoninstitute.com/mg-21-8
To browse through a selection of our Gaelic records online, click here.
Browse by record type:
Return to the Projects Page.