Isobel Grant was born in Edinburgh in 1887. She founded the Highland Folk Museum at Kingussie and met with the dwindling numbersof men and women who could recall using items exhibited. Highland Folk Ways is the result of her discussions with them, and of her owncareful and dedicated research. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by Edinburgh University in 1948, and an MBE in 1959 forher pioneering efforts in recording a ‘living history’ of Highland life, which included opening Britain’s first ever open-air museum in Kingussie.She died in Edinburgh in 1983, aged 96.