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Collison's Aisle, St Nicholas Church
46 This George Washington Wilson photograph shows the memorial stones inserted in the west wall of Collison's Aisle. Originally called Aisle of the Holy Blood, it formed part of the north transept between the East and West Churches of St. Nicholas and was renamed after 1594, although it probably dates from the 14th century. Members of the Collison family held important civic offices at various times, including Provost in 1521 and 1594, and their place of burial was in this aisle. The memorial stones commemerate Andrew Cullen, Thomas Menzies and his wife Mariene Reid, and Sir John Rutherford. Andrew Cullen was a merchant and Provost of Aberdeen in 1506 and 1535, and the stone shows a sculptered coat of arms above the words "Andrew Cullen Prepositus Abd". Thomas Menzies was Provost in 1525 and (for 40 of the next 50 years), only leaving office in favour of other members of his family. He married Mariane Reid of Pitfodels. The stone has two panels above a shield bearing the Menzies coat of arms, flanked by the initials T.M. The second panel has the initials M.R. and a shield with the Menzies and Reid coats of arms. Beneath is the motto 'Spero in Deo et ipse faciet' - Trust in God and he will perform'. The third stone commemorates Sir John Rutherford of Tarland, first elected Provost of Aberdeen in 1483 and every alternate year until 1492, and again between 1496-1500. He probably died about 1520. 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. The Adamant Stone & Paving Company Ltd.
4189 This photograph shows a paving stone with a branding plaque for the Adamant Stone & Paving Company Ltd. The plaque is located in the pavement in front of 9 Forest Road.
An account of the history and operation of the Adamant Stone & Paving Company Ltd. is given in Aberdeen: The Official Handbook (1951), compiled by the Corporation of the City of Aberdeen, on page 175. Within the "Other Industries" section, under the title 'Precast Concrete', the account begins as follows:
"The Adamant Stone & Paving Company Ltd. was established in 1885 by a group of London engineers, to manufacture at Dancing Cairns, Bucksburn, paving flags made of crushed granite and Portland cement by a new hydraulic process."
The account, which provides much detail on the history and work of the company up to the time of writing, continues that the flags were an immediate success and were shipped across Britain and beyond. It states that the city of Aberdeen remained the company's most consistent customer.
This custom is reflected in the paving branding that can be seen in various places across Aberdeen. It can also be found in other places around Britain.
When pavement wear and damage is repaired these branding marks can become lost over time. Beyond this one on Forest Road, in Aberdeen, pavement branding can also be found on the following streets:
Queen Street - This branding, the more familiar brass lettering reading "Aberdeen Adamant", can be found in a pavement slab next to the south west corner of Greyfriars Church. Both words are written in straight lines.
George Street - Also "Aberdeen Adamant" brass lettering, both words in straight lines, located outside 101 George Street.
Hilton Terrace - Outside nos. 21-23. Silver coloured lettering "Aberdeen Adamant". "Aberdeen" is written in a curve above a straight "Adamant".
Hilton Road - Slightly down the road from nos. 54-56. Silver "Aberdeen Adamant". "Aberdeen" curved above straight "Adamant".
Company branding like that seen on Queen's Street and George Street can also be seen on Holburn Street. One could previously be found on a flag in the pavement just north of the junction with Strachan's Lane. This appears to have been removed sometime between 2010 and 2012 as part of street repairs. Though just to the south of the junction, outside 219 Holburn Street, an example of the brass branding remains in place.
The same branding, brass, straight lines, could also be found on Murray Terrace at the junction with Polmuir Road, north side of the pavement. Below the south elevation of 56 Polmuir Road. This disappeared between 2012 and 2014.
There was also a plaque, the same as the one on Forest Road, outside 29 Murray Terrace in recent times. This has was removed as part of repairs between 2009 and 2012.
A digital copy of this photograph was donated to Aberdeen City Libraries by Colin Johnston. The Adamant Stone & Paving Company Ltd.
4190 This photograph shows a paving stone with a branding plaque for the Adamant Stone & Paving Company Ltd. The plaque is located in the pavement in front of 9 Forest Road.
An account of the history and operation of the Adamant Stone & Paving Company Ltd. is given in Aberdeen: The Official Handbook (1951), compiled by the Corporation of the City of Aberdeen, on page 175. Within the "Other Industries" section, under the title 'Precast Concrete', the account begins as follows:
"The Adamant Stone & Paving Company Ltd. was established in 1885 by a group of London engineers, to manufacture at Dancing Cairns, Bucksburn, paving flags made of crushed granite and Portland cement by a new hydraulic process."
The account, which provides much detail on the history and work of the company up to the time of writing, continues that the flags were an immediate success and were shipped across Britain and beyond. It states that the city of Aberdeen remained the company's most consistent customer.
This custom is reflected in the paving branding that can be seen in various places across Aberdeen. It can also be found in other places around Britain.
When pavement wear and damage is repaired these branding marks can become lost over time. Beyond this one on Forest Road, in Aberdeen, pavement branding can also be found on the following streets:
Queen Street - This branding, the more familiar brass lettering reading "Aberdeen Adamant", can be found in a pavement slab next to the south west corner of Greyfriars Church. Both words are written in straight lines.
George Street - Also "Aberdeen Adamant" brass lettering, both words in straight lines, located outside 101 George Street.
Hilton Terrace - Outside nos. 21-23. Silver coloured lettering "Aberdeen Adamant". "Aberdeen" is written in a curve above a straight "Adamant".
Hilton Road - Slightly down the road from nos. 54-56. Silver "Aberdeen Adamant". "Aberdeen" curved above straight "Adamant".
Company branding like that seen on Queen's Street and George Street can also be seen on Holburn Street. One could previously be found on a flag in the pavement just north of the junction with Strachan's Lane. This appears to have been removed sometime between 2010 and 2012 as part of street repairs. Though just to the south of the junction, outside 219 Holburn Street, an example of the brass branding remains in place.
The same branding, brass, straight lines, could also be found on Murray Terrace at the junction with Polmuir Road, north side of the pavement. Below the south elevation of 56 Polmuir Road. This disappeared between 2012 and 2014.
There was also a plaque, the same as the one on Forest Road, outside 29 Murray Terrace in recent times. This has was removed as part of repairs between 2009 and 2012.
A digital copy of this photograph was donated to Aberdeen City Libraries by Colin Johnston. 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 48: Tuberculosis Exhibition Poster
219 In March 1912 an exhibition on the infectious disease tuberculosis was held in the Music Hall on Union Street. This striking poster, with the headline 'War on consumption', advertised the six day event and the accompanying series of lectures.
The exhibition was organised by the Town Council of Aberdeen and the National Association for the Prevention of Consumption. The majority of the exhibition was brought to the city by the latter party with local additions from the Aberdeen Public Health Department, the pathological and public health laboratories of the University of Aberdeen and the Aberdeen Mothers' and Babies' Club.
The exhibition arrived in Aberdeen on the 16 March from Dundee where it had been visited by 30,000 people. It had also toured Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Hull.
The exhibits were arranged in the Music Hall's Ball Room and Square Room by Mr Haughton, the organising secretary, with assistance by officials of the Public Health Department. The exhibition included two full sized model rooms. Living conditions such as good ventilation, fresh air and sunlight were considered vital in combating the disease. A "bad room" was modelled on a real property in the East End of London.
Tuberculosis was a grave health concern at the time. The poster states that "During the past Ten Years in Aberdeen 1997 persons died from Consumption, and 1039 from other forms of Tuberculosis." In a preview of the exhibition from 19 March, the Aberdeen Journal wrote "The object of the exhibition is to draw attention to the enormous wastage of life and work caused by tuberculosis in its various forms; to show how the disease is caused and spread; and to illustrate the methods of cure and the precautions for its prevention."
The importance of the exhibition was further stressed in a later article which stated: "There is no single disease that causes among civilian communities so many deaths and manifests itself in such various forms, and nothing can be more desirable than to bring home to the masses of people how the deadly scourge can best be prevented or checked. In Aberdeen alone the number of deaths yearly from all forms of tuberculosis is about 270, and of these about two-thirds, or 180, are due to pulmonary tuberculosis. The disease usually lasts long, and the number of definite diseases attributable to it at any one time in the city is probably not less than four or even five times as large as the deaths."
The exhibition was opened by the Principal of the University of Aberdeen, George Adam Smith, and was accompanied by a series of daily public lectures by experts on the disease. Each day's lecture was followed by cinematograph presentations illustrating the precautions taken in connection to tuberculosis. The lectures were held next-door to the Music Hall in the Aberdeen Y.M.C.A. Hall.
At the close of the "six day crusade against tuberculosis", Lord Provost Maitland described the exhibition and lecture series as "Magnificent" and the Journal stated that the success of the event, "judged by popularity, is beyond all doubt." In total 39,960 attended over the six days, placing Aberdeen behind only Hull which was open for an extra day. Approximately 20,000 health pamphlets were disseminated around the city, including 15,000 catalogues freely distributed by the Public Health Committee. A copy of this catalogue, which includes an instructive article from Hay, is kept in the collection of Aberdeen Local Studies. Treasure 72: George MacDonald Victorian Children's Books
274 In our Local Studies collection we hold a number of works by Victorian author George MacDonald. He wrote extensively over his lifetime in a variety of genres yet it is probably for his fantasy writing that he is most highly regarded. He is sometimes referred to as the founding father of modern fantasy writing and subsequent renowned writers C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien drew inspiration from his work.
MacDonald's novels "At the Back of the North Wind" (1871); "The Princess and the Goblin" (1872) and its sequel "The Princess and Curdie" (1882) are titles that we are still familiar with today and, as a result of their enduring popularity, they continue to be reprinted and sold nearly 150 years after they were first published.
In common with other popular fiction from the Victorian period, they were originally serialized and instalments appeared in Good Words for the Young - a magazine which aimed to provide wholesome literature for children to read.
The editions of George MacDonald's children's books in our collection are all printed by Glasgow firm Blackie & Son Ltd whose business activities included bookselling, publishing, printing and book production. Their children's publications are notable for their colourful covers and striking illustrations.
View the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition on our touchscreens to find out more about the Victorian author and his varied works.
Treasure 98: Kissing postcards
317 To celebrate Valentine's Day, we have chosen to display four historic postcards from our collections conveying messages of love and friendship.
The postcards are slightly smaller than those in circulation nowadays and they all have a different title, written in capital letters and in colour on the top of the cards. Up until the end of the 19th century, most postcards presented an undivided back; England was the first country to divide the back of the postcards in 1902, before France in 1904, Germany in 1905 and the United States in 1907. It allowed people to write both the message and the address of their recipient on the same side. The front side was then mainly used for the picture or artwork. Postcards can be a useful tool for learning more about society and people's interests and sense of humour.
The text on the postcard entitled 'The Science of Kissing' is from a publication called The People. It first appeared in British newspapers in 1866 and has been republished many times since. Amusingly, the author of the text gives some tips to improve a kissing performance and describes in detail what a proper kiss on the lips should feel like: "People will kiss, yet not one in a hudred [sic] knows how to extract bliss from lovely lips, any more than he knows how to make diamonds from charcoal. And yet it is easy, at least for us. First know whom you are going to kiss. Don't make a mistake, although a mistake may be good."
Want to find out more about the art of kissing in time for St. Val's Day? Check out our interactive exhibition on the touchscreen! Acts of the Harbour Committee - The Life Boat.
437 A notice detailing regulations for the management of Aberdeen's life boat. The regulations are taken from two acts of the Harbour Committee dating from 7th January 1811 and 13th March 1815.
The regulations detail the rights and responsibilities of Captain Nicol, then acting as the sole management and direction of the boat. He is empowered to collect dues from the other boats using the harbour and to offer extra financial reward to life boat volunteers in instances of danger.
He must also keep the boat, its apparatus, and the launching slip in good working order at all times and have it launched and ready to go in stormy conditions.
The broadside was complied from the aforementioned acts of the Harbour Board by William Carnegie and was printed and published by D. Chalmers and Co. |