A new website containing one of Scotland’s most important historical records of Highland life has received nearly 32,000 hits from across the world since going live just over a week ago.

Dozens of people have also been sending their congratulations and thanks to the small team from the Mallaig Learning Centre, part of Lochaber College UHI, who were responsible for putting the 19th century Napier Report online.

Centre manager Jane Henderson and IT support officer Mark MacLean undertook the project to mark Highland 2007, Scotland's year of Highland culture.

Historians, people researching their ancestry, and anyone interested in the political and social climate of the time, can now use the internet to access the Napier Commission’s report into the lives of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands in the late 1880s. The report’s four volumes and appendices can be found at www.highland-elibrary.com. Site analysis shows hits from all corners of the world. At one stage it was registering an average of 371 hits per hour.

“The response has been incredible. We never imagined it would take off so quickly. It has been hard work for us, but very enjoyable and now so rewarding to realise that people all over the world are finding it very interesting and useful,” Jane said this week.

“We’ve heard from one woman who said the story had always been told in her family that her grandfather gave evidence to the inquiry. She’s absolutely delighted that they can now easily look this up for themselves.”

One e-mail from British Columbia, Canada, said: “I learned of your magnificent Highland heritage project while viewing news from Scotland on the BBC's website today. Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing your inspired project to fruition. Thank you for doing the work and for having the vision to make the Napier Commission Report accessible to countless folk around the world. My first (one and only) sight of the report's many bound volumes came many years ago, in the stacks at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. There has been no time for another research visit, so I long ago gave up hope of exploring these volumes in search of glimmers of my husband's Highland forebears. You have changed everything. I'm still grinning from ear to ear. What a wonderful gift. Thank you.”

Principal of Lochaber College UHI, Laurence Young, said: “The popularity of such a resource shows how valuable people like Jane and her team are to Scotland’s history and culture.  It also shows how much interest there is across the world in Scotland, and its ancestry.  It will be fascinating to see how the site and the interest in it grow.”

The Napier Report is often described as Scotland’s Domesday Book, the 1086 record of life in England. Lord Francis Napier was appointed by William Gladstone’s government to head The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands, responding to demonstrations against excessively high rents, lack of security of tenure on land that had been in families for generations, and the forced evictions of crofters.

The commissioners’ travelled around the region, including Orkney and Shetland, and set up courts to gather first-hand evidence from crofters, landlords and others who were familiar with the plight of the indigenous population. The final report was published in 1884 and led to the 1886 Crofters’ Holding Act.

The Napier Report online was brought to life with a budget of £5,000, including a Highland 2007 grant and a contribution from the Crofters’ Commission.

Jane is now applying for lottery funding to run a “Romance and Reality” travelling exhibition, based at Lochaber College UHI, to tell the story of the Napier Commission and the life and times of the era.

Lochaber College UHI and the Mallaig Learning Centre are part of the UHI Millennium Institute network which is bidding for university title.

Dr Iain Morrison, UHI head of lifelong learning, said: "This project is another exciting development at Mallaig Learning Centre, driven by people who are passionate about the community and region to which they belong. The 113 learning centres across the Highlands and Islands are all about creating innovative ways to increase opportunities for learning and this resource will prove invaluable for those with an interest in a significant part of our collective history."

ENDS

Media contact:
Jane Henderson
Lochaber College Mallaig
T: 01397 874 600
E: jane.henderson@lochaber.uhi.ac.uk

Notes:

• UHI Millennium Institute (UHI) is a higher education institution comprising thirteen partner colleges and research institutions, two associated institutions and a network of over fifty outreach learning centres, located throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (including Moray and Perthshire).
• Currently over 6500 students are studying on undergraduate and postgraduate courses or undertaking postgraduate research with UHI.
• The UHI partner institutions are working together to achieve university status, as the University of the Highlands and Islands.