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Home > About the Collections

About the collections

Historic Photographs

The Local Studies collection contains many thousands of photographs of Aberdeen. We are committed to making all of these images available to users worldwide via The Silver City Vault, however the ongoing project to digitise our entire photograph collection will take some considerable time. As a result of this, we intend to regularly upload new images to the website on a continuing basis.

If you would like to request a search for other photographs in our collection - other than those to be found on this website - please simply contact us with your enquiry.

Uploaded photographs can be searched by location, category or keyword. Once a search is complete, simply click on the thumbnail image to see the full record. Here you will also be offered further options including the ability to add your own information to the record by using the “comment” button.

Most of our images are available for purchase. If you would like to order a high quality copy of one of our images, take a look at the page on Ordering Images for more information.

Local Studies Index

  • General

Due to the large quantity of records contained in the Local Studies Index, it is not yet possible for us to provide images for all records. The Local Studies team are working hard to add many thousands of images for these records but this is a long process. Your patience is appreciated.

Should a search return a record for which there is no associated image, please simply contact us, stating the record number you are interested in viewing, and we will add the image to The Silver City Vault as soon as possible.

 

Obituary Index

Over many years, the Aberdeen Journal published an annual list of names appearing in the newspaper due to a death – this list was known as the Obituary Index. The deaths associated with this list are dated approximately between 1899 and 1931. Please note that not all deaths during this period would have appeared in the newspaper. Please also be aware that not all of the names appearing in the index are associated with an extended obituary – in this instance, the newspaper may simply contain a brief notice of death.

The information contained in these records usually includes the date of death, the address of the deceased, name of spouse and the cemetery in which the funeral took place.

 

Marriage Index

As with the Obituary Index, a list of names was also produced detailing the names of those people appearing in the Aberdeen Journal associated with a marriage. The marriages in the list date approximately between 1748 and 1878. Please note that not all marriages during this period would have appeared in the newspaper.

The information contained in these records usually includes names and places of birth or residence for each spouse, along with the place and date of marriage.

 

Pauper Index

During the Victorian period, lists of people receiving financial assistance from the authorities were published. These “lists of paupers” are available to search on The Silver City Vault. Please note that very few original pauper records exist for the city.

The information contained in these records usually includes names, residence details and sums of poor relief received.

 

Newspaper Index

The majority of articles contained in the Newspaper Index date from 2010 onwards. The Local Studies team are working on adding many thousands of historic articles to this index as well as current newspaper articles. The Newspaper Index will be updated on a continuing basis.

Please note that due to copyright restrictions, it is not possible for us to add images of recent newspaper articles.

 

Periodical Index

The Local Studies collection contains many periodical titles, all of which include articles concerned with various aspects of Aberdeen history. To enable wider access to thousands of these articles, we have added our Periodical Index to The Silver City Vault. To view a copy of an article included in the Index, simply contact us with the details of the article, and we will deal with your enquiry as quickly as possible.

The information contained in these records usually includes the author and title of the article, along with the title, date and page number of the source periodical.