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Union Terrace and Gardens
412 A postcard image showing Union Terrace Gardens in the centre of Aberdeen.
There are a couple of notable features that might be able to help date the image: there is no bandstand present and the lower, central area in this image is still in the older lay-out with wide dividing paths.
The removal of the bandstand and change of lay-out may have been carried at around the same time. A minute from an Aberdeen Town Council meeting of 21st September 1931, detailing a recommendation from the Links and Parks Committee to the full Council, reads as follows:
"The Committee had before them a report by the Superintendent of the City Parks, in which he points out that he has had the bandstand in Union Terrace Gardens examined, that it is in a bad state of repair, and that he has been informed that the cost of repairing the worn-out parts would be almost equal to the cost of a new stand. He further states that the bandstand has not been used for some years, owing to the noise from the adjoining railway interfering with the performances, and suggests that the stand should be removed, the site and surrounding pathways levelled, covered with soil and sown with grass seed. If this were done, the playing area would be increased by 1,407 square yards, as shown coloured yellow on the plan herewith submitted, thereby giving greater facilities to the large number of children who frequent the Gardens.
"The Committee approved of the report, and beg to recommend that the Council should grant authority to the Superintendent of Parks to have the bandstand removed and the other work carried out as proposed." (Minutes and Proceedings of Town Council, City of Aberdeen, 1930-1931, page 660.
The full Council approved this recommendation from the Links and Parks Committee. In light of this information, the image may date from relatively shortly after September 1931. After the bandstand has been removed but before the ground had been leveled and sown as a single larger grass lawn. The Puffing Briggie
532 A scene of change and renovation in the Denburn Valley. The image looks south from Union Bridge over the suburban platforms of the old Aberdeen Joint Railway Station. The old station's large, curved roof can be seen in the background.
The area we are looking at has seen much change since this time. It is now largely covered by the 1960s retail development on the south side of the bridge, the later Trinity Centre, the development of Wapping Street and Denburn Road, and the building of Atholl House. Though many of the buildings of note we can see in this image are still visible today.
The tall buildings on the far right are the rear of those on Bridge Street. The small street in front of them, going up to Guild Street, is the start of College Street. It is now a partially pedestrianised lane that goes under Wapping Street. The building at the top of this street is the classical style suburban ticket office, built 1909 and now home to Tiffany Hair & Beauty.
Going west along Guild Street's two span road bridge we come to the Great North of Scotland Railway Company's headquarters. This was designed by architects Ellis & Wilson and built in 1894. It is now part of the Station Hotel, along with number 78 next door. The building retains many of its original features. The Guild Street entrance to the Trinity Centre now runs along the western side of this building.
The image also shows features that are no longer present. The covered walkway that can be seen on the near right of the image enabled direct access from the station's central platform to the Palace Hotel on Union Street. The hotel was owned by the Great North of Scotland Railway Co. (GNSR). The walkway was vaulted to pass over the tracks at sufficient height.
Consulting The Joint Station: Aberdeen Station, 1867-1992 (c1992), this image probably dates from 1912 when, in additional to commencing the reconstruction of the Joint Station, the GNSR also laid new loading docks and carriage storage siding in the Hadden Mills site (left of image). This was to ensure that the main station buildings were used purely for passenger traffic.
The walkway that linked Windmill Brae and the Green, known affectionately as the Puffing Briggie, can be seen in the centre of the image. It looks like a section on the left has been temporarily demolished as part of the ongoing work.
The sidings on the extreme left were used for cleaning carriages in the later 20th century. One of our correspondents recounts using the often-unattended carriages, accessible when entering the station from the Green, as an unusually exciting and plush playground during their youth in the late-1940s. St. Fittick's Well
1853 A photograph from 1906 of St. Fittick's Well, located in the Bay of Nigg.
An account of the well is given by Thomas W. Ogilvie (1861-1908) in The Book of Saint Fittick, a history of Torry, written and presented as a Bazaar Book to Saint Fittick's Church, Torry, in December 1901.
Ogilvie worked as a doctor in Torry for seven years and was prominent in the public life of the district. An account of his life is given in the introduction to a posthumously published collection of his verse, Poems (1911).
Ogilvie suggests use the well dates to pagan times and gives an account of its storied healing powers and the tradition of offering gifts in the hope of good health and fortune. He suggests St Fittick, the patron saint of Torry, became the object of these benefactions after the arrival of Christianity.
He details the tradition of visiting the area and leaving gifts on the first Sunday of May. Ogilvie writes:
"Town Council and Kirk Session struggled by laws and punishments to stop those Sunday wanderings and to efface those vestiges of old superstitions, but the customs of centuries die hard, and to-day young and old, to whom the name St. Fittick is a meaningless term and the repute of his well quite unknown, ramble on Sundays and week-days to the bay once called by his name, and they find the old power still lingers, for the beauty of the Bay, the fresh sea-breeze, and the pure draught from the old spring still bless and heal."
The well is understood to have been washed away by coastal erosion in the early 20th century. Its location, latterly its site, is recorded in old large scale Ordnance Survey maps. Aberdeen Savings Bank
1936 Aberdeen Savings Bank was founded in 1815 and had conducted its business in small offices until 1st July 1858, when this building was opened on Exchange Street. The ground had been feued from the Scottish North-Eastern Railway Company in January 1857 and this building erected at a cost of around 2,800 pounds. As the population of the city moved further west away from the city centre, the directors felt that a change of site was desirable and, having acquired land in Union Terrace, a new, much larger, office was opened in 1896. Alexander Ledingham Portrait
2140 This portrait of a woman is also by Alexander Ledingham of Rosemount. The photographer's stamp is present in the bottom right corner. The woman is standing by a chair that can be seen in other Ledingham portraits so this was obviously a recurrent prop. The painted backdrop in this picture suggests the setting of a large estate house.
The subject of the photograph wears a rather serious expression which was the convention in 19th and early 20th century photography. This was a continuation of the tradition of painted portraiture and suggested the stature and respectability of the subject. The great American writer Mark Twain wrote, "A photograph is a most important document, and there is nothing more damning to go down to posterity than a silly, foolish smile caught and fixed forever." Stillness was also required due to the exposure times of early photography. Fishwife
2260 A fishwife, most likely from Torry, with a creel on her back, a basket and shopping bag in her hands.
The history of Torry is inseparable from fishing. Like Torry itself the fishing industry and its related activities saw great change over time.
Going to sea to fish was challenging and dangerous, but those left on shore did not have an easy life either. The Torry fishwife in this picture likely had to walk many miles into the centre of Aberdeen and back again every day carrying very heavy loads. Other time would be spent mending nets or curing fish.
The 20th century saw increased industrialisation of fishing. Treasure 32: George Washington Wilson South Africa Photography Collection
2320 George Washington Wilson is one of the great names in 19th century photography, famous for capturing images of people, buildings and landscapes across Scotland. His photography drew attention to the beauty of his country, but his travels further afield are not as well known.
As an innovative pioneer in photography, George Washington Wilson's work reflected the reality and attitudes of society during his lifetime (1823-1893). In our collections we hold a vast selection of photographs and portraits taken by the G. W. Wilson Company in South Africa. These images were taken by his son, Charles Wilson, and Fred Hardie, a company photographer of George Washington Wilson & Co.
The company's photographs of South Africa captured scenes of the country which would have been perceived as unusual and exotic to British people at the time.
South Africa and its Treasures
The majority of British colonization was concentrated in South Africa during the 19th century. In the past, the country was colonized in order to control one of the main trade routes to India. Due to the abundance of resources such as spices and tea, European interest in Africa increased dramatically in the late 19th century, especially with the discovery of gold and diamonds in the 1860s-1880s.
On their return to Britain, George Washington Wilson & Co presented many photographs showing these natural resources, from the Robinson Gold mine in Johannesburg to De Beers Diamond Mines in Kimberley.
Tea was also a very valuable resource, and people in Britain were keen to learn more about its production and its use in South Africa.
Photography and Tourism
The collection held by Aberdeen City Libraries shows local places of interest in South Africa. These photographs capture Cape Town and Johannesburg, two of the biggest cities in the country. Many Europeans emigrated to these cities in the 19th century, due to the discovery of valuable resources in the surrounding area.
With the rapid rise of tourism in this period, George Washington Wilson & Co. looked for new ways to promote and sell their work. Around 1880-1890, they started to commercialize their photography via picture postcards, a relatively new concept in Britain. This new form of media met with huge success as it was easy to write and cheap to send. It soon became the standard way to communicate with friends and family when abroad, a holiday tradition which remains today.
The postcards, in colour and having a standard size, featured many different scenes from South Africa and were viewed as an innovative way to publicize the country - and the works of photographic firms such as George Washington Wilson & Co. Guest treasure: Aberdeen Journals' Photographic Collections
2435 The photographic collections of Aberdeen Journal Ltd span over a century. The photographs were taken to support stories and features in The Press & Journal and Evening Express newspapers - a picture speaks a thousand words after all. However, the accumulated photography has created a historical resource documenting life in the north east and Highlands during a century of change and development. The collection covers everything from the changing landscapes of our towns and cities through to global news events. But it's personal, too. People and their images are at the heart of our stories, be it the children on their first day in a new school through to community events and individual achievements. Your image is probably in the archive somewhere if you look hard enough.
The collection is actively used by our journalists. It provides content for favourites like The Aberdonian and Past Lives features in the Evening Express and historical context and background to stories in The Press & Journal. The collection is also used by external researchers looking for copies of images in which they or their family featured, supporting charities and associations celebrating anniversaries and even to supplement content as featured in The Silver City Vault!
archives@ajl.co.uk
View all the Christmas images from the archive in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition on the library touchscreens. Aberdeen Cinemas: Regal / ABC / Cannon
3400 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the interior of the ABC Cinema on Shiprow and Union Street in 1976. This was shortly after the "tripling" of the cinema which was completed on 8th July 1974. This was the process of dividing the cinema's original, single large auditorium into three distinct screening rooms. This allowed cinemas to show a greater variety of films and to cater to smaller audience numbers. The Odeon on Justice Mill Lane had been the first cinema in Aberdeen to be tripled, reopening as such on 8th April 1974.
This photograph shows ABC 1, the largest screen, that sat 566 people. Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) explains that the largest screen (cinema one) would mainly show first runs. The smaller screens (cinemas two and three) would be used for less commercial attractions or the retention of popular features already shown in the main screen. This is the format of cinema exhibition that is most common today but marked a significant change from the tradition of single large auditoriums.
The tripling of major circuit cinemas like the ABC and Odeon had a knock-on effect on the viability of cinemas such as The Cosmo on Diamond Street. These smaller cinemas had previously been a home for the less commercial features that the larger venues were now taking on.
In 1986 the ABC Cinemas chain became part of the American-based Cannon company, which already had extensive cinema interests in the UK. The vertical ABC sign above the Union Street entrance gave way to the Cannon logo in June 1987.
Some highlights of the cinema's time as the Cannon included hugely popular runs of E.T., the Tim Burton Batman, and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. The cinema's name reverted to the ABC for a period before closing for the final time in early 1998.
Aberdeen and cinema-going was shortly to experience a period of expansion. In August 1999 Aberdeen company Craiglair Properties got the go-ahead to demolish the abandoned ABC and build a new seven screen cinema on the site. The cinema was called The Lighthouse and opened in April 2001. Since 2004 it has operated as The Vue Aberdeen.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Rev. George A. Johnston, B.D.
3803 A photographic portrait of Rev. George A. Johnston taken from the John Knox Parish Church Book of the Bazaar from 1910. He served as the church's minister from 20th June 1906 until he took up a position at Grange on 6th July 1909.
The souvenir fundraising book features a history of the parish church and its ministers by Alexander Gammie, Esq. ("Ecclesiasticus"). Gammie describes Johnston's ministry as follows:
"Mr. Johnston had a great reputation as a preacher before he came to Aberdeen, but he very soon quite eclipsed his past in point of popularity and influence. From the outset of his ministry he attracted immense audiences, and the church at every service was crowded to overflowing. He stood without a peer as unquestionably the most popular preacher of his day in Aberdeen. And not only did vast audiences gather Sunday after Sunday to listen to his preaching, but membership of the congregation increased at an abnormal rate until the Communion Roll reached a total of considerably over 2000 names. Mr. Johnston's ministry is, and always will be, a great tradition of John Knox's." page 38-39.
As way of example, Gammie gives an extensive account of one of Johnston's services. Gammie goes on to credit the shortness of Johnston's ministry, and eventual move to the less demanding post in Grange, to the burden of work entailed with so great a congregation.
See Gammie's full article in the Book of the Bazaar and the church's entry in his Churches of Aberdeen (1909) for more details about Johnston and the John Knox congregation. Both are available to consult at Aberdeen City Libraries. Cullerlie Stone circle
4220 A photograph looking north west from Cullerlie Stone Circle at sunset. A house on the road towards Garlogie can be seen in the background.
The stone circle is located approximately 11 miles west of Aberdeen. Not far south from the Loch of Skene.
Aberdeenshire Council's leaflet The Stone Circle Trail (2022) describes Cullerlie as follows:
"Restored Stone Circle, comprising circa 10 m in diameter. Within the stone circle, 8 small kerb cairns were added which when excavated contained burnt bone, charcoal, flint tools and pottery. The central cairn is the largest, at 3.4 m in diameter, and is the only one to have a double kerb. This stone circle is seen as a later development of the Recumbent Stone Circle tradition."
Historic Environment Scotland's website suggests the stone circle may be around 4,000 years old. It describes Cullerlie as "an unusual site, with few parallels. However it may be best regarded as a rare survival of what once may have been a type of monument common in the lowlands of north-east Scotland."
This photograph likely dates from the 1970s or 80s. It comes from a collection of slides donated to Aberdeen City Libraries by Aberdeen City Council's publicity department Map of the "Royal Aberdeen Hotel"
146 This map shows the change that occurred between 1870s and the end of the 19th Century.
The Athenaeum is now a hotel-restaurant and the whole of Castle Street saw important improvements. Tramways lines can be seen on the streets. Treasure 20: Souvenir card to commemorate the open access in the Lending Library
191 In 1925 a major change took place in the Lending Department of the Central Library. The concept of "Open Access" was introduced, allowing readers to select their books directly from the open shelves.
The Lending Library closed for a month for re-organisation and was formally re-opened on 3 October 1925 by Mr FC Thomason MP for Aberdeen South. To mark the occasion an artistic Souvenir card containing notes on the history of the library was presented to each guest (about 100), to the same number of earliest borrowers and to a similar number of libraries throughout the country.
The department was completely transformed with space for over 38,000 books; fiction was arranged around the walls in alphabetical order and non-fiction on island shelving in the middle. Treasure 23: Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States
194 With roots dating back to the religious observances of the founding fathers, the national holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated each November in America. The development of the holiday largely mirrors the development of the American nation itself, with tales of warring peoples, inter-state rivalry and the inevitable spread of development.
One popular oral tradition traces Thanksgiving to an event in 1621 which took place between the Pilgrim fathers and the native Wampanoag people. Relations between the settlers and indigenous people were inevitably tense at this time, but the shared feasting and frolics of the "Plymouth Thanksgiving" heralded a friendly truce which lasted for fifty years.
Many years later, and during the tensions of the American Civil War, the editor of a popular magazine, Sarah Josepha Hale, campaigned for a national holiday as a way of promoting unity between the states. Thanksgiving Day was announced by Abraham Lincoln and celebrated for the first time on 26 November 1863. Since then, Thanksgiving is traditionally celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
In 1880, a volume was produced which sought to capture the "state of the union", using data gleaned from census and other records to produce visual representations of the nation. Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States uses a mass of information on topics as diverse as population, literacy, agriculture and religion to literally map out the whole of the developing country.
Using just one example from Scribner's Atlas charting the distribution of corn production across the entire United States, it is clear that the general pattern of development is east to west. The eastern areas are much smaller and more populous than the wide expanse of the "unsettled parts" - referred on the Silver Screen as "the Wild West".
Another key aspect of the map are the areas denoted as "Indian Reservations" - specific territories designed to allow some limited freedom of movement to the indigenous populations finding themselves under increasing threat from multiple generations of European settlers. Within the numerous reservations some recognisable Native American names are visible - Sioux, Cherokee and Navajo; however, many are less familiar and many more are either under threat or have entirely disappeared - such as the Wampanoags of the original "Plymouth Thanksgiving" of 1621.
Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States was a vast undertaking of data management completed in a simpler age of pen and ink. The detail provided in the snapshot offers readers an intriguing glimpse at the development of one of the most powerful nations on the planet today.
Treasure 27: City of Aberdeen Meteorological Records
200 The state of our weather is a regular topic of conversation whether it's a lovely sunny day or a dark, dreich day. November brought the first snow of the season to Aberdeen in 2015 so we have taken this opportunity to look at historical weather records in our collections and see if our winters used to be warmer, colder, snowier, or wetter than today's!
This table of weather statistics for December 1925 is contained in a large volume of titled 'City of Aberdeen Meteorological Records'. The records were obtained from Aberdeen University Observatory, King's College by the Medical Officer of Health (MOH), Dr Matthew Hay, for publication in his Monthly and Yearly Reports on the Health of the City.
Although this volume covers the period from January 1900 until the Monthly Records were discontinued in September 1931, Dr Hay also included meteorological data in his earlier reports and the later MOH annual reports also contained summaries of the data.
The University Observatory was created around 1868 on the upper storeys of the Cromwell Tower. The Meteorological Observer was William Boswell until 1902. He was succeeded by George Aubourne Clarke the following year. Their equipment included a telescope, thermometer screen and an anemometer. The Observatory was one of the Government's Meteorological Office weather stations and was taken over by the Air Ministry in 1921 but closed down in 1947.
The data in each table includes temperature, relative humidity, rainfall (snow or hail is indicated by the letters S or H), hours of sunshine, and wind direction and velocity.
This table from December 1925 shows that there was some snow in the first and third week but both Christmas Day and Hogmanay were the two sunniest days of the month with between 3 and 4 hours of sunshine each.
Today we are used to regular weather forecasts broadcast and printed in the media. The official body responsible for weather forecasting in Britain is the Met Office. Their website at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/ provides not only current forecasts and explanations of weather phenomena but also historical information on Britain's weather.
Check this link to see how many times there has been snow at Christmas in Aberdeen between 1942 and 2007. Aberdeen experienced 15 White Christmases as snow fell on 25 December. The likelihood of snow falling - and lying - in December has decreased in recent years due to the effects of Climate Change. Nowadays, Britain is much more likely to experience snow between January and March. Treasure 40: Valentine and Sons Postcards Collection, 1825-1963
209 Founded in 1825 as a printing firm based in Dundee, Valentine & Sons grew to become a prominent force in the postcard industry. Combining established printing practices with new developments in photography, Valentines were one of many companies able to exploit the growing Victorian tourist boom, aided in part by easier travel on Britain's new railway system.
James Valentine, son of the original founder John, became an early pioneer in photography with many of his works reproduced by the company from 1860. After James' death in 1879, the company continued under his two sons, George Dobson Valentine and William Dobson Valentine.
From 1896, Valentine and Sons began producing postcards to complement their existing business which included books of photographs, portraits and Christmas cards. As the postcard business grew in success, the company expanded into other tourist markets - including opening offices in Jamaica, Norway, North Africa, Canada and New York.
By the 1930s, the company focused solely on postcard production, but a focus on monochrome and sepia prints seems to have underestimated a growing demand for colour images. By the 1950s, the business was suffering and elected to change direction by returning to greetings cards. The company was purchased by Waddington & Co in 1963 - which in turn passed to Hallmark cards in 1980. Operations in Dundee ceased in 1994.
As with other producers of photographic material, the legacy of such a prolific business enables modern audiences a glimpse into the past with thousands of images from numerous locations capturing a given moment in time. Postcards have become a staple for those with historical interest, and many private collectors seek to hold the entire works of companies such as Valentine and Sons.
For the Local Studies service, the collection of postcards produced by Valentine and Sons offer some unique and fascinating insights into Aberdeen life in the past. Not only this, the messages written on the back of postcards - both from and to those in Aberdeen - can often bring a more human side to the historical picture.
Treasure 46: The Aberdeen Herald
217 When the first weekly issue of The Aberdeen's Journal was published by James Chalmers in January 1748 who would have guessed it would still be in production today (admittedly with several changes of title and ownership) as The Press and Journal.
The monopoly of The Aberdeen Journal, as it soon became, remained almost unchallenged throughout the eighteenth century but the nineteenth century saw the publication of several competing newspapers. Most of these were short-lived but included The Aberdeen Herald, and General Advertiser for The Counties of Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, and Kincardineshire, which was published between 1832 and 1876.
We hold the first copy of this weekly newspaper in our collections. It was printed and published by George Cornwall, and was issued on Saturday 1 September 1832. It succeeded an earlier paper called The Aberdeen Chronicle which had been in production since 1806. The Aberdeen Journal was seen then as politically neutral but the Herald is described as Whig-Radical and its opening advertisement states "In fact, the chief object of The Aberdeen Herald will be to obtain a cheap, efficient, and patriotic system of Government".
Since the Herald was published on a Saturday while the Journal appeared on Wednesday, it was able to include articles which would have been old news by the following Wednesday and could also provide updates to news from earlier in the week.
The newspaper cost 7d which was far beyond what an ordinary person could pay and restricted readership to the wealthy. This high cost was a result of taxes imposed by the Stamp Act of 1712 which was not abolished until 1855. Papers could then be bought for 1d and there was freedom to produce mass-circulation newspapers with improved text layout.
The front pages of newspapers, even as recently as the early 1900s, did not contain news stories but were filled with adverts - business, theatrical events, shipping, property and public notices. The issue of The Aberdeen Herald for 21 April 1866 contained an advert explaining the change of name for the town of Inverurie. Local historian, Dr Douglas Lockhart, provides the following account of the town's name change.
The market town of Inverurie was one of the fastest growing places in Aberdeenshire during the mid-nineteenth century when its population increased from 735 in 1821 to 2524 in 1871. Many factors contributed to rapid growth at this time including good communications, initially by turnpike roads and the Aberdeenshire Canal to nearby Port Elphinstone, and from the mid-century it lay astride the railway line between Aberdeen, Elgin and Inverness.
Further advantages were the extensive agricultural surroundings, markets and successful local businesses. Surprisingly Alexander Smith in A New History of Aberdeenshire, which was published in 1875, has little to say about the transformation of the town. However, he wrote a lengthy paragraph to describe how 'INVERURIE was, in former times, written Inneraury, Ennerawrie, and Hennerawie, and latterly Inverury' and he notes that the name meant "the confluence of the river of the margin".
On 5 February 1866 the Council met to discuss what appears to have become a growing problem - mail was being sent to Inveraray in Argyllshire because Inverury was not listed by the Post Office as a Post Town. The solution was simple: "return to the ancient spelling of the Burgh as Inverurie and to memorialise the Postmaster General to have it set down on the Lists as a Post Town". The Postmaster agreed to the name change and the scene was set on 19 April for the Council to discuss advertising the new arrangements. The wording of an advertisement was approved and it was decided to place it in the Edinburgh Gazette, Aberdeen Journal, Aberdeen Free Press, Aberdeen Herald and Banffshire Journal and "to endeavour to get the Railway Company to alter the spelling of the Station in their Tables".
Inverury officially became Inverurie the following day and on 21 April The Aberdeen Herald announced the change of name in the advertising columns of its front page. The Banffshire Journal in addition to printing the advertisement also published a glowing report on building activity in the burgh and noted that "within the memory of living inhabitants [the town] has been thoroughly regenerated".
Aberdeen Local Studies holds files of many local newspapers on microfilm, including the Aberdeen Herald and the Free Press. A digitised partial file is also available on the British Newspaper Archive which can be freely consulted online in the Central Library using your library card. Treasure 50: Heroines of Shakspeare
221 Celebrating 400 years since the death of the literary great, one of our April treasures looks at an unusual publication concerning the works of William Shakespeare.
Published in the mid-19th Century, this wonderful volume was donated to Aberdeen Public Library by Miss Emily Jane Duthie, a retired teacher living on Skene Terrace.
Born in India in 1868 Miss Duthie was the daughter of Robert Duthie, Superintendent of the Scottish Orphanage in Bombay during the days of the British Empire. The school was founded in 1847 by Scottish Christian Missionaries to educate the daughters of Scottish Presbyterian Soldiers based in India. Since then, the school has continued to thrive and is now one of the most prestigious in Mumbai.
It is highly likely that Miss Duthie's early years based at the institution, followed by her own studies and subsequent career would have introduced her to the world of Shakespeare and perhaps piqued an interest in the many female characters depicted therein. The kind donation clearly demonstrates her continuing desire and passion to educate others in later life, once her career as a teacher had come to an end.
"The heroines of Shakspeare" is chiefly an art book; a means to showcase the forty-eight imagined portraits of the Bard's fictional characters. The attempt to capture a visual representation of the prominent female characters provides a neat bridge between Shakespeare's contemporary audiences (who would have seen female roles assigned to young boys), and our modern age of television and film which is frequently dominated by physical appearance.
Although educated Victorian audiences would have been familiar with the written words, the illustrations attempt to capture a definitive image of each character, including approximate age, costume, physical features and demeanour as revealed by the playwright.
The images are portraits of Hamlet's Ophelia, Othello's Desdemona, Romeo and Juliet's Juliet and of course - Lady Macbeth (from the Scottish play!)
The illustrations are printed on thick paper from original engravings by portrait artists including Augustus Egg, John Hayter and John William Wright. The book is bound with gilt edges and also contains sturdy decorated endboards.
The curious spelling of Shakespeare in the title reflects the fact that during the Bard's own lifetime there was no single accepted form - the man himself spelling his own name differently in various editions of his work. Although this may seem strange to modern readers the tradition harks back to an era when language was much more fluid, and established forms of spelling simply did not exist in the way that we know today.
Treasure 55: Punch
230 The first edition of the satirical magazine Punch was published on 17 July 1841. The title being derived from a conversation between the founders who claimed that - just as the alcoholic drink of the same name - the magazine would be nothing without Lemon (Punch's first editor was named Mark Lemon).
Despite a difficult start of low circulation figures, the success of the magazine was ensured with the decision to publish an annual edition, or Almanack. Copies of these soared and shortly after the magazine was taken over by the printing firm of Bradbury and Evans whereupon it entered its golden age.
Modern satirical magazines - such as Private Eye or the French publication Charlie Hebdo - often purposefully push the boundaries of good taste in order to land a searing political blow of maximum impact. In the Victorian age, Punch attempted to capture the mood of the public in tasteful, yet no-less provocative terms.
Punch frequently used illustrations to highlight contemporary problems in a stark visual manner. So much so in fact, that it can claim to have changed the English language in the process. The original definition of the word cartoon meant simply a preliminary drawing for a work of art - similar to "sketch" - with no additional meaning. However, the word took on the additional connotation of being applied to humour with the publication of Punch's 'Cartoon No.1 - Substance and Shadow'.
The enduring popularity of the magazine is in many ways, inextricably linked to its own downfall. With changing appetites for publications and satire, Punch desperately needed to keep re-inventing itself, but seen by many as a national institution, change was far from easy. Eventually the magazine succumbed to the pressure of low circulation and finally ceased publication in 2002, leaving behind 160 years of humour and wit.
Punch's lasting legacy is a snapshot of opinion on some key historic events from the preceding decades - notably including coronations, scandals, wars, budgets, coalitions and many other subjects high on the political agenda. Treasure 108: Local Studies Poetry Collection
329 One of our treasures this month is the Local Studies poetry collection.
In terms of treasures it might be thought of as a large golden casket filled with sparkling jewels -each one representing a book of poetry and a veritable treasure in its own right. In common with the rest of the Local Studies collection the main qualification for the inclusion of a particular work is that there should be a local connection. The poet may live/have lived locally or have written about the local area. As might be imagined this has led to the acquisition of a large and varied body of work.
It would be impossible to cover every poet and so a selection has been made. A number of famous, lesser known, male and female poets have been included and hopefully this may give a flavour of what is held within the collection. In "The Bards of Bon Accord" by William Walker the author describes a long tradition of poetry writing in Aberdeen and the Northeast dating back to the 14th century, with poets often writing in old Scots. This tradition continues today with modern poets like Sheena Blackhall and Douglas Kynoch writing both in English and their native dialect popularly known as the Doric.
To learn more about this fascinating collection, have a browse in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition. Broad Street
430 This image was digitised from Artistic Aberdeen: A Sketch Book (1932) by W. S. Percy.
The book describes the scene as follows:
"Broad Street, a vista which in years not very far off, may again under go change. This was formerly named the Broadgate, but this part of it now, as compared with the plaza in front of Marischal College from which the drawing has been done, is rather ironical. The part seen in the drawing is also entirely given over to the municipal offices; at the end is the Town House, the tower of which can be seen. On the left are the offices of the Aberdeen Journals Limited." |