Oban War & Peace Museum is an independent organisation run by a committed and long serving group of volunteers. The main display area is manned by a team of volunteer Watchkeepers whose enthusiasm allows the museum to open to the public every day from March to November.
Its origins lie in an exhibition, 'Oban at War', mounted in 1995 as part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the ending of World War II. So many contributions of memorabilia and photographs were donated by the local people that the exhibition became permanent and in 1996 was renamed 'Oban War & Peace Museum'.
In the ensuing years the museum occupied various rented premises until in March 2004 it was able to acquire its own home by purchasing the ground floor of the Old Oban Times Building on Corran Esplanade. Following a major refurbishment project the museum opened its doors to the public in March 2006 in much larger and permanent surroundings.
This marked a turning point for the museum, allowing many more items from its collection to be displayed and enabling work on documenting and archiving its collection to progress. It is hoped that this work will result in achieving the standards necessary for Accreditation by Museums Galleries Scotland in 2009/10.
