Past Exhibitions 1988 – 2019

The Dollar Community and the Great War

Our exhibition in 2018 marked the 100th Anniversary of the ending of the 1st World War. We looked at the stories of local men and women who served in the forces and we examined how life was for those who stayed at home in Dollar.

On the home front, the Dollar community supported the war effort in many ways: for example, work parties knitted thousands of socks and other comforts for the troops, vegetables were grown for the Fleet, sphagnum moss was collected in the Ochils, and Belgian refugees and local troops were given hospitality. Summer Time, rationing, watering of beer and banning of penny buns were endured.

List of Exhibitions

  • 1891-1991 (Centenary of Dollar becoming a Police Burgh)
  • 19th Century Costume
  • 19th Century Industries in Dollar
  • 19th Century Samplers from Dollar Institution
  • A Century of Dollar Farms
  • A Century of Housing Development in Dollar 1918-2018
  • Adam Robson – Man of Many Parts
  • Bookbinding
  • Brewing, Taverns and Temperance in and around Dollar
  • Broomrigg
  • Castle Campbell
  • Children’s Millennium Ceramic Tile Project
  • Churches in Dollar (150th Anniversary of building of Parish Church)
  • Coggies Quaichs and Crusies
  • Curling in Dollar
  • Dewar Flasks
Dollar Public School - Learn Telephone 1935
  • Diamond Jubilee
  • Dollar Academy 175th Anniversary
  • Dollar Bowling Club
  • Dollar Connections (Local Authors)
  • Dollar District Churches Together
  • Dollar Drama Club
  • Dollar Ladies Golf Club Centenary
  • Dollar Memories of the 2nd World War
  • Dollar Primary School Class Photos
  • Dollar Red Cross
  • Dollar Tennis Club
  • Dollarbeg
  • Esperanto exhibition by Bill Auld – local Nobel Prize for Literature nominee
  • Fans
  • Flowers Past and Present
  • Football in Dollar
  • Girls Guildry
Dollar Curlers - with dog
  • Greens the Hairdressers Centenary
  • Harry Bell (Rector of Dollar Academy, Centenary of Birth)
  • Hatches, Matches & Despatches
  • History of the Mill Green
  • Horticultural Society
  • Japanese Gardens at Cowden
  • ‘I, John McNabb’ (200th anniversary of death of founder of Dollar Academy)
  • Landscapes of Dollar
  • Local War Memorials (loan)
  • Mansions and Castles around Dollar
  • Maps of Old Dollar
  • Marionettes from the 1940s
  • Memories of the 50s
  • Millennium Pictures
  • Mining and Quarrying around Dollar
  • Mining in Dollar
  • Objects of Desire – Keepsakes and Collections
Dollar Tennis Club
  • Old Churches and Old Pewter
  • Old Clocks and Clockmakers
  • Old Dollar Revisited
  • Old Postcards of Dollar
  • Old Town / New Town
  • One Hundred Years of Golf
  • Praise and Punishment (at Dollar Academy over the years)
  • Robert Burns in Dollar
  • Schooling in Dollar
  • Ship in a Bottle
  • Six Generations at Dollar Academy
  • Snuff Boxes
  • The Dollar Community and the Great War
  • The River Devon
  • The Story of the Dollar Burn
  • The Umbrella Maker’s Daughter
  • Then & Now (Old postcards compared with modern views)
  • Tools of the Trade
  • Toys of the Past
  • Twinning with La Ville aux Dames
  • VE Day in Dollar
  • Views of Old Dollar
  • William Kersley Holmes – World War I
  • World War II in Dollar
Dollar Academy Hockey - Pavilion and Team

Current Exhibitions

From prehistoric times to the present day, artefacts, documents and photographs illustrate the history of Dollar.

Our 2022 Exhibition

New: a working model of Dollar Railway Station and model of Dollar Mine.  A small exhibition of watercolours by Waller Hugh Paton, a Time-Line of Dollar History, Local Witches, Floods in Dollar, the origin of the place-name “Dollar”, the History of the Dollar Academy Gardens, local prehistoric finds, Granny's Kitchen - and much more ...

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Prehistoric

Local finds from Bronze Age burials on loan from the National Museums of Scotland give an insight into early inhabitants of the Hillfoots.

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Last year’s Exhibition

After delays due to the Covid pandemic, Dollar Museum opened its doors in June 2021. As well as our permanent displays on the Devon Valley Railway, the Japanese Garden at Cowden, Prehistoric Dollar, Granny’s Kitchen, etc., we had a new presentation on Local Witches.

A new permanent feature is the Time-Line of Dollar History. This display extends round the entire exhibition area – some 25 metres – and transports you from geological times to the present day. In addition, there were displays on Floods in Dollar (Did you know that houses in East Burnside lost their fronts in 1877?), The Origin of the Place-name “Dollar” (We are often asked about this by visitors), Were the Romans in Dollar?, the History of the Dollar Academy Gardens (Did you know that Dollar Institution had a Botanic Garden and Nursery?) and Dollar Fair in Olden Times.

There was also a selection of objects from the Dollar Museum Collection. Among the chosen items were some connected to Castle Campbell and Local Churches (particularly interesting are the Communion Tokens) and a collection of artifacts illustrating local industries, such as Bleaching, Mining (coal and copper), and Brick- and Tile-making.

We were delighted to present a new exhibit – a working model of Dollar Railway Station, as it was shortly before it was closed by Dr Beeching. This has become a permanent exhibit.

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2019 Exhibition

A Century of Housing Development in Dollar, 1918-2018

The 2019 exhibition in Dollar Museum mapped the growth of housing developments in Dollar. Our main exhibit was a 1.5m2 street map showing the 33 major housing developments built in Dollar from 1918 to 2018. There were individual call outs for each development showing an enlarged street plan, relevant pictures, build dates, builders and cost. Extra pictures and documents for each of the developments were also available in folders.

There were 3 smaller displays looking at the history of the local authority developments since WWI, the objections to planning raised over the years and the story of the Museums involvement in the field research for the Gowan Lea build. Documentation from the exhibition will be archived for future access.

Exhibits 2021
Dollar Railway Station model

The Bicentenary of Dollar Academy

This display celebrates the 200th anniversary of the founding of Dollar Academy in 1818. It tells the story of the early years, starting with the part played by local boy, John McNabb, who made a fortune at sea and left half to Dollar Kirk Session for “a charity or school for the poor of the parish”.

Others who played important roles were:

  • Rev. Andrew Mylne, the first Rector
  • Craufurd Tait of Harviestoun
  • William Playfair, architect

The result was a magnificent building containing a unique, co-educational, day and boarding school, which provided free or very cheap education for all local children, long before school attendance was universal.