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Children's library, Woodside
421 The Children's section downstairs in Woodside Library, Clifton Road. Anderson Library, Clifton Road, Woodside
439 Engraving of the Anderson Library, Clifton Road, Woodside. The library was built by Sir John Anderson. The Architect was Arthur Clyne. c.1883. The Library Committee
1403 The Library Committee (with G M Fraser City Librarian, extreme right). The first Library Committee was appointed in April 1884 and it continued as a separate committee until local government re-organisation in 1975 when it functioned as a sub committee of the Arts and Recreation Committee. Joseph T. Duncan
2388 This photo dates from around 1950, and shows bookbinder Joseph T. Duncan and his assistant Ruth Chalmers in the bindery which was located in the basement of the Central Library. He is applying gold lettering to the spine of a volume using the tools laid out on the rack beside him.
Mr Duncan was appointed in 1935 at the age of 37, after the retirement of the Library's first bookbinder, and remained in post until his sudden death in 1962.
Prior to his appointment, he was employed by printing firm George Cornwall and Sons for 22 years. During his time there, he spent a year on loan with William Jackson, a bookbinding company in Back Wynd, who also carried out work for the Public Library. He was tasked with stamping class numbers on the spines of books for the Sir John Anderson Library in Woodside whose management had been transferred to the Public Library Committee in 1930. John Duguid Milne
4372 A photographic portrait of John Duguid Milne (1822-1889), an Aberdeen advocate.
On 20th March 1883 Milne read a paper titled The success of free public libraries in industrial towns, and the necessity for a free public library in Aberdeen to the Philosophical Society of Aberdeen. The paper was also published by the society as a pamphlet shortly afterwards. A copy of this paper is held by Aberdeen Local Studies.
Milne draws together the experiences of free public libraries from England and around Scotland. He also points to the example and popularity of John Anderson's library in Woodside, which had opened in 1881.
In the section 'Who should move for a free library?' Milne writes:
"The Free Library is not especially for the wealthy, nor even for the well-to-do, but for the people, for the industrial classes; and it is for the industrial classes themselves to say if they want it. They have also the power in their hands, as they form a majority of the ratepayers." (page 17).
Milne was the director and legal advisor of Aberdeen's Mechanics' Institute. He ends his paper by stating that should the Public Libraries Act be adopted by Aberdeen, the Mechanics' Institute was prepared to hand over to the Free Public Library their whole stock of books and their substantial premises on Market Street.
Milne's paper, and the offer within, was likely a determining factor in the initiation, and ultimate success, of Professor Alexander Bain (1818-1903) and Baillie George Walker (1821-1910) putting forward a motion for the adoption of the Public Libraries Act at a meeting in the Music Hall on 25th March 1884. This meeting took place around a year after the first reading of Milne's paper.
Opening in March 1886, the Mechanics' Institute building did become the first location of Aberdeen's new Free Public Library and its collection of books formed the core of its stock. If you look at some of the older items in the collection of Aberdeen City Libraries today, stamp marks for the Mechanics' Institute can still be seen. The Anderson Library
61 Engraving of the Anderson Library, Clifton Road, Woodside. The library was built by Sir John Anderson. The Architect was Arthur Clyne. c.1883. Woodside Primary School from <i>Annals of Woodside and Newhills</i> by Patrick Morgan (1886)
306 Morgan tells us that the first schools in Woodside were provided as the population of the village increased by Gordon, Barron & Co. They were a company of cotton spinners and manufacturers with a works at Woodside dating from around 1779.
The first large school was funded by public subscription and was opened in 1837 in the building now known as the Burgh Hall.
The school shown in the illustration on the left was opened in February 1875 and was known as the Board School. Presumably as it was run by the Old Machar Parish and School Board before being taken over by the Aberdeen Burgh School Board in 1894.
At the time Morgan was writing it was the second largest school in Scotland and had nearly 1400 pupils.
This building was altered in subsequent years and plans for a major reconstruction were begun in 1901. The architect was J. A. O. Allan of the Aberdeen School Board. The building warrant application and associated plans are available at Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives, as are other historic records related to the school.
The proposed reconstruction is detailed in the Aberdeen Daily Journal of 6th August 1902. This enlarged building continues to function today as Woodside Primary School. The dates of 1890 and 1902 can be seen written in the building's stonework.
Boards containing the names of all the people to win the Sir John Anderson Dux Award can be found within the school's assembly hall. The nursery can be found in a separate building with its own garden.
When Sir John Anderson first gifted 9000 books to the people of Woodside they were kept at Woodside School until the purpose built library was opened on 15th October 1883. Woodside Library from Annals of Woodside and Newhills, by Patrick Morgan (1886)
307 Sir John Anderson gave the credit for his success to his upbringing in Woodside. To pay tribute, he decided to gift a library to people of the area. The library was initially retained in the Woodside School, before the present day building was opened in 1883.
On its initial opening the library was used to great success, however after ten years the library was in trouble. The small income the library made on the selling of cheque books and catalogues did not allow for many new books to be purchased, leaving the people of Woodside with the same stock.
The library was saved in January 1932, when it became the largest Branch Library in Aberdeen. This helped to boost the stock available to the people, and the next twenty years was the library's most successful, averaging at 70,000 books borrowed every year.
The beautiful building itself was designed by architect, Arthur Clyne, under the strict instructions of Sir John. Sir John was determined the building should stand sure for generations.
Sir John Anderson (1814-1886)
309 "John Anderson, as the phrase goes, was a self-made man; no one owed less than he to outside influence. Woodside may well be proud that one of its sons has achieved such distinction."
(The Aberdeen Journal, 29th July 1886).
Anderson is one of the most famous men to have been born and brought up in Woodside. His achievements in the field of engineering and public service have been recognised around the world, not just in Britain. Nevertheless, he never forgot about his beginnings growing up in Woodside, as evidenced by his gifting of the Anderson Free Library to Woodside in 1883.
Please see below to download more information about Sir John Anderson.
Treasure 105: Sir John Anderson Library Medal
326 The story of Sir John Anderson and his Woodside Library is told in "The Admirable Mechanic by Moira Anderson", published by Aberdeen City Libraries in 1983.
On the back cover is a photograph of the Anderson Library Medal given to every pupil at Woodside School to mark the inauguration of the Woodside Library and the Scholar's Library in 1881, both of which were housed temporarily in the Headmaster's Room at the school until a purpose-built library could be constructed.
The medal was presented to the Library in August 1983 and now forms part of the Anderson Library Archive held in Local Studies. We can take a look at the history of Woodside Library through some of the other items held in the collection.
Woodside Library opened on 15 October 1883 and was described By Patrick Morgan in The Annals of Woodside as "the most beautiful and valuable institution in the Burgh of Woodside, containing a wealth of literature, which is difficult to estimate". The library was a gift to the people of Woodside by the noted engineer, Sir John Anderson.
Over the years there was a noticeable decline in the use of the library with lack of funds to purchase new stock, no room for expansion and no separate Reading Room. Eventually, ownership of Woodside Library was transferred to the City Council and The Sir John Anderson Branch Library Woodside comprising a Lending Library, Reading Room with games tables, Juvenile Library and Reading Room was opened by Lord Provost Rust on 19 January 1932 and regarded as the largest and most complete Branch in the System.
To learn more about the interesting history of this unique library, have a browse in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition. |