Next of Kin

The First World War separated millions of people worldwide from their families and homes. The impact of the conflict was felt by communities in every part of Scotland as family members fought across the fronts and news of losses were received.

For the servicemen and women who experienced the conflict first-hand, keeping objects was a way of remembering this extraordinary period in their lives. Families coped with the loss of their loved ones by collecting and cherishing these souvenirs along with postcards, letters and photographs sent home
and official presentations such as service medals and memorial plaques.

Through a selection of these family keepsakes, Next of Kin: Scottish Families and the Great War will present a portrait of Scotland at war, where the private lives of Scottish families introduce some of the themes and events of the conflict across the fighting fronts.

The museum’s own collections, researched and interpreted by one of our curators working with members of local communities and living relatives to tell Highland families’ stories, will be shown alongside the national collections.

The exhibits will be complemented by a show of new artworks in the Community Gallery.  These have been created, in workshops with the curator, by participants from Birchwood Highland and HUG (Action for Mental Health), created in response to the stories and themes that IMAG’s World War One collections inspire.

Room to Discover, one of the spaces in which this split location exhibition is being shown, is sometimes used for other activities. Please call 01463 237114 before making a special visit to this exhibition.