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Bust of Professor Alexander Bain
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Bust of Professor Alexander Bain

Historic Photographs
David Oswald
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Bust of Professor Alexander Bain
Historic Photographs
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Bust of Professor Alexander Bain
A photograph of a 1891 bust of Professor Alexander Bain (1818-1903) by sculptor Henry Bain Smith (1857-1893).

Alexander Bain was a philosopher, educationalist, early psychologist and free thinker. At a public meeting on 25th March 1884, he put forward the successful motion for Aberdeen to adopt the Public Libraries Act and create a Free Public Library. This noble enterprise would first open in the old Mechanics' Institute building on Market Street in March 1886.

Bain was an autodidact from an impoverished family. He had studied at the Mechanics' Institute prior to entering Marischal College so he knew well the importance and potential of libraries and public education.

A new purpose built Public Library for Aberdeen, now known as the Central Library, opened on Rosemount Viaduct on 5th July 1892. Two months after first being open to the public, with a Lending Department and Reading Room, a Reference Department opened on the second floor on 29th August.

Three days before this addition, the Library was presented with the first of a number of marble busts which would grace the Reference Department until the 1960s.

It was this bust of Alexander Bain, the professor of logic, who had been an early champion of Aberdeen's public library. The bust, funded by public subscription, was work of the sculptor Henry Bain-Smith. Bain-Smith was also the artist of the Burns Statue on Union Terrace.

The bust of Professor Bain is now in the collection of the Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums (AAGM), having been gifted by the Libraries in 1999. The entry for the bust on their online catalogue contains further details on Bain's life and work.
Aberdeen
Sculpture
LIB02_21
Aberdeen Local Studies
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