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Powis Gateway, Old Aberdeen. These curious towers stand at the gate leading to Powis Lodge, almost opposite King's College, Old Aberdeen. They were constructed by John Leslie of Powis, who succeeded his father, Hugh Leslie of Powis, the builder of Powis House (1802). John Leslie succeeded his father in 1812, and the towers were finished in 1834. The crescent on the top of one of the towers is the crest of the Frasers, the predecessors of the Leslies in the property of Powis. As indicated in the bottom right, this etching of the gateway is by Aberdeen artist Henry Jackson Simpson (1893-1963), known professionally as Jackson Simpson. He was a prolific and successful local artist who specialised in etchings and watercolours of architecture, land and seascapes and wildlife. Simpson died at his home at 58 Craigton Road, aged 70, on 28th March 1963. His obituary, which gives an account of his life, featured in the next day's Press & Journal. He was a native of Aberdeen, the son of William Jackson, an art dealer in Diamond Street. He trained as a lithographer and joined his father in business. He served in WWI with the Northumberland Fusiliers and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. In 1935 he took over the family business following the death of his father. He was well travelled around Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire and this is reflected in his art. University related subjects such as Marischal College, King's College and, here, the Powis Gateway, were among his most well known works. A keen sportsperson, and prominent freemason, he also set-up the Craigton Club and was highly involved with the Northern Arts Club. An article titled 'The charming story of Jackson Simpson: Scotland's celebrated etcher' featured on the Press & Journal website, in partnership with the McEwan Gallery near Ballater, on 8th June 2022. The feature was produced to highlight an exhibition of Simpson's work at the aforementioned gallery.

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Photographic portrait of a man wearing the sash and medallion of the Order of Free Gardeners. The Free Gardeners were a friendly society founded in Scotland in the mid-17th century. Newspaper reports indicate that the Order was considerably active in Aberdeenshire until at least the mid-20th century. An article in the Press and Journal of 2nd May 1949, page 6, records the address to the North of Scotland district delegation in Aberdeen of the retiring Worthy District Master Charles I. Crighton. Crighton reports a drop in local membership of the Order, both among the adult and juvenile branches, largely crediting this to the introduction of the National Health Service. The district adult membership stood at 5124, a drop of 110, and a juvenile membership had decreased by 206. This photograph of an unknown Free Gardener likely dates from the early 20th century.

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Morningfield was originally a hospital for those with incurable diseases. Founded in 1857, it was located in Belleview House in the Denburn. In 1882 the Town Council bought the property as part of the development of Rosemount Viaduct. Consequently the hospital authorities bought land and erected new hospital buildings to the west of the city centre. The hospital retained the name Morningfield, also given to the road running past it, and was opened in September, 1884. The Aberdeen Journal reports that soon after the outbreak of the First World War the Committee of Management of Morningfield Hospital offered, in case of need, to accommodate 30 of the sick or wounded. At the urgent request of military authorities 40 British and Belgian wounded soldiers were admitted to the hospital. This photograph is a group portrait of some of the wounded Belgian soldiers during the war. The image was kindly lent to the library by Arlene Grant whose grandfather was a Belgian soldier treated at Morningfield. Supplying the hospital during wartime was a challenge and appeals were made to the generosity of the locals: "The Belgian soldiers are very dependent on vegetables and fruit," reported the Aberdeen Journal, "and as the hospital garden is already depleted the matron would be grateful for further supplies. Other articles urgently required are fouls, rabbits, eggs, coffee, cakes and jam".

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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.

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This month's Guest Treasure was kindly selected by NHS Grampian Archives who hold fascinating and varied collections of historical health records from across the North East of Scotland. Aberdeen Royal Lunatic Asylum has changed a lot since it opened in 1800, as has the way in which patients were admitted. Following the passing of the Lunacy (Scotland) Act in 1857, people who were being admitted had to have been assessed by two different doctors who would set out why that person's symptoms merited admission to the Asylum. These were recorded on Medical Certificates - or 'Lunacy Forms' as they are called in these volumes. The forms give background information on the patient - their name, age, address, next of kin and so on, before recording the two doctor's statements. Supporting case notes also survive, which give further information on the individual patients, but there are also surviving annual reports which can be found in Aberdeen Central Library. These detail the changes which happened in the hospital each year, give statistics on the number of patients admitted, and provide information on how well the hospital was being run. View the Lunacy forms in greater detail on our touchscreens.

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A broadside from 1758 presenting the case of Peter Williamson (1730-1799), who, in his pamphlet French and Indian Cruelty Exemplified in the Life and Various Vicissitudes of Peter Williamson, denounced the merchants of Aberdeen for having been involved in the kidnapping of children to be sold as slaves in America. Williamson claimed to be one of those children who suffered this terrible fate. Though to this date there is no historical documents to definitively confirm Williamson's account. On his return to Aberdeen, the town's magistrates accused Williamson of calumny, imprisoned him, and forced him into an admission of guilt. They also publicly burned the offending pages of his pamphlet in the Town Square and banished him from Aberdeen on the 23rd June 1758. Only ten days later, on the 3rd of July 1758, this broadside shows that Williamson had found witnesses to prove he was born in Aberdeenshire from honest parents and that he had told the truth in his book about his experiences. The lower half of this broadside is the statement from Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk, an Aberdeen County Justice of the Peace, that indicates that he had been presented with evidence of Williamson's claims and that he believed them to be true. Wrongfully persecuted, Williamson was ready to prosecute the merchants of Aberdeen for the "illegal behaviour" they had inflicted on him. Williamson eventually won his his lawsuit in 1762. The broadside both makes the case for Williamson in his dispute with the Aberdeen magistrates and serves as an advertisement for his book. Aberdeen City Libraries hold a number of books about the life and work of Peter Williamson and he has an entry on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by P. J. Anderson, revised by A. W. Parker (available online with an active library membership).

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The illustrated front cover of The Mearns Leader and Kincardineshire Mail 1933 special number. Like many newspapers, The Mearns Leader published special annuals around December of each year. These would feature articles looking back at the events from the past 12 months. This issue was published on 21st December 1933 and features an Art Deco style illustration of Stonehaven's Open Air Swimming Pool, which would have been been under construction at the time. The pool was officially opened on Saturday 2nd June 1934 by Charles Malcolm Barclay-Harvey (1890-1969), member of parliament for Kincardine and Aberdeenshire West at the time. On the skyline can be seen two of Stonehaven's major landmarks: the war memorial on its hill-top location and the Bay Hotel, built in 1903 and now a care home known as Clashfarquhar House. As indicated at the bottom of the page, The Mearns Leader was then published by The Kincardineshire Press, Ltd. of 22-24 Evan Street, Stonehaven. Aberdeen City Libraries hold a bound copy of this special number in our Local Studies Reserve Stock.

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