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Bishop's Loch lies to the north of Aberdeen, just within the city boundary. A charter from the 12th century refers to the lands of Goul or Goval, where the Bishop of Aberdeen had his palace or residence on an island in Loch Goul, now called Bishop's Loch, where at one time the site was visible. The approach to the palace was by a drawbridge. At this time, the Bishops were engaged in developing the Chanonry in Old Aberdeen. Over time, the lands outside the Chanonry were sold off. This photograph shows a much larger expanse of water than now exists. The water level has been lowered and certain areas are silted up and there is lush growth of various wetland plants. Nearby, there is new housing and a sand gravel quarry. Many discussions took place about the possible creation of a nature reserve to encompass this loch and two other nearby lochs - Lochs Corby and Lily - and they were listed as Sites of Special Scientific Interest in October 1983.

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Deeside Hydropathic at Murtle, five miles to the west of Aberdeen City Centre, was built for the Rev Dr Alexander Stewart in 1899. He had founded a similar establishment in 1874 at Heathcot, Kincardinshire, and the growth of business there led to the selection of this new site close to Murtle Station on the Deeside Railway. It was also seen as a convenient centre for visiting the Deeside area. The extensive grounds included a croquet lawn, bowling green and tennis courts, while the Deeside Golf Club was only a mile away. The building itself had 92 bedrooms, there were Turkish, Russian, vapour, electric and spray baths. Since hydropathy was a medical treatment consisting of the external and internal application of water, the proximity of an artesian well supplying abundant pure water was also a feature. After the first World War, the building was sold and converted into Tor-Na-Dee Sanatorium in August 1918, specialising in the treatment of tuberculosis. More recently it has been used as a convalescent hospital, but it is now being re-developed for housing. Dr Stewart was born in 1835 in Coupar, Angus and studied at Glasgow University and did the medical course at Aberdeen University. At his death in 1909, he was Minister of John Street Congregational Church in Aberdeen, having been ordained there in 1864.

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This photograph of Morison's bridge, or the Shakkin' Briggie, is reproduced from the book 123 Views of "Royal Deeside" (1903). This volume was printed and published at the office of the Aberdeen Daily Journal and Evening Express, 18-22 Broad Street, Aberdeen. The photographs that feature in the book were taken by Mr. William J. Johnston of Rockcliffe, Banchory. William Jaffrey Johnston (1864-1914) was a professional photographer, considered an expert in outdoor photography, and was well known around Deeside. He was also a church organist, latterly with Banchory's South U.F. Church for 16 years. Johnston died aged 48 on 13th January 1914. A death notice, brief obituary and tribute from the Rev. W. Cowan can be found in the local newspapers of the time. An article about the release of the album of views can be found in the Aberdeen Daily Journal of 1st June 1903 on page 5. Copies of the book can be consulted in the Local Studies collection at Aberdeen Central Library. The description that accompanies this image of the bridge reads as follows: "Cults Bridge was erected in 1837, so that parishioners on the north side of the river might have better means of access to the Church of Banchory-Devenick than the then 'parish boat' afforded. The donor was Rev. Dr. Morison, the minister of the parish. But the growth of Cults has been such that the parish has been re-arranged, and the village has now its own churches." (page 7).

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The North Parish Church on King Street. It was designed by John Smith in the Greek Revival Style and is thought to have been inspired by St. Pancras Church in London. The building cost £10,300 and could accommodate 1700 to 1800 people. The church was constructed after the parish of St. Nicholas was split into six distinct parishes in around 1828 due to population growth. The six parishes were East, West, North, South, Greyfriars and St. Clement's. The church was officially opened on 19th June 1831 and its first service was attended by the Lord Provost and the town's Magistrates. The first minister was Rev. John Murray. The church became home to the North and Trinity Parish in 1929 when Trinity Church on Marischal Street closed and its congregation was merged with the North Parish. Due to declining attendance numbers the North and Trinity congregation was itself merged in 1954 with the East Church of St. Nicholas. The church building on King Street was converted to become the Aberdeen Arts Centre in 1963.

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An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Cosmo 2 cinema at 15 Diamond Street in January 1976. This site was first used as a picture hall by the News Cinema which opened on Saturday 5th September 1936. This was only the second cinema of its type to open in Scotland. Michael Thomson explains that news cinemas aimed to entertain those with only limited time, with programmes lasting approximately an hour made up of comedy and local interest shorts, newsreels and cartoons. They were ideal for travellers waiting for connections or those passing time before appointments. The News Cinema in Aberdeen was owned by Ernest Bromberg and was located next door to the Palais on Diamond Street. The cinema was converted from a former stable building that Bromberg had owned since 1931. Thomson states that "the acoustics and the RCA talkie system were excellent, and all in all the little cinema more than made up in comfort and quality for what it lacked in size." The News Cinema made its own local newsreels that documented happenings in the town. In October 1941 one of these captured footage of the tragic fire that destroyed the upper section of the Palace Hotel and killed 6 people. Major national events such as coronations and the second world war were also heavily represented in the News Cinema's programme. On 4th April 1955 the cinema was rebranded by Bromberg as the Newcine Continental and specialised in showing films from Europe, which were then growing in popularity. During the next year the cinema shifted back to news programmes and reverted to its original name on 3rd December 1956. The current events function of news cinemas was increasingly superseded by the growth and availability of TV news reporting. In May 1959 the cinema changed its name to the Curzon and returned to showing continental films, including the more risqué variety which were popular at the time. [Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd.

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A photograph of The Foundry pub and restaurant at 41-43 Holburn Street taken on 21st March 2024. 43 Holburn Street, today The Foundry, was built in around 1915/16 as a motor showroom and workshop for Mr. John Harper, engineer of Bournemouth, to a design by architect George B. Mitchell (Aberdeen Daily Journal, 20th September 1915, p. 4). In November 1916, during the First World War, the Harper Motor Company put their new garage, at the junction of Holburn Street and Justice Mill Lane, at the disposal of the Red Cross. The commodious building, ideal for transport work, became the headquarters of the Aberdeen Transport Section of the Red Cross Society (Evening Express, 21st November 1916, p. 5). 43 Holburn Street was occupied and in use by the Harper Motor Company until at least 1979. In 1986, George Dowdles, who had ran a roller skating rink called Rollerland Disco in Bon-Accord Terrace, proposed to turn the premises into a leisure centre for teenagers (Press & Journal, 19th June 1986, p. 3). The new venture at 43 Holburn Street was to be a soda and burger café modelled on the TV show Happy Days and called Up The Junction. It opened in October 1986 (P&J, 10th October 1986, p. 3). Up The Junction appears to have struggled financially and 43 Holburn Street was remodelled and opened as Rollerland Mark II in August 1987 (EE, 22nd February 1988, p. 8). The original Rollerland skating rink had been on the second floor of 5 Bon-Accord Terrace and operated from 26th June 1981 to mid-1986. Rollerland on Holburn Street was briefly owned by Cove Rangers football club and was temporarily renamed Wheels Leisure Centre. George Dowdles remained its manager (P&J, 1st April 1989, p. 1). The venue was reopened as Rollerland under the ownership of Aberdeen District Council in July 1989. DJs Robin Galloway and Gary Stein provided music for a reopening gala night (EE, 27th July 1989, p. 5). Rollerland finally closed in February 1991 on safety grounds. Water leaks had warped the floor making it unsafe for skating. The venue had struggled financially and the estimated cost of repair was too large (P&J, 18th September 1991, p. 3). In June 1995, there was a significant fire in the building (EE, 19 June 1995, p. 2). In September 1995, the company Alloa Pubs and Restaurants, who had leased the building from the District Council, unveiled plans for a £500,000 transformation of the run-down property. It was to be turned into a prestige bar-diner called The Granary, with a lay-out based on the company's Glasgow venue of the same name (EE, 16th September 1995, p. 7). With a final redevelopment cost of £600,000, The Granary opened to the public on 6th February 1996 (P&J, 7th February 1996, p. 11). A search of Aberdeen City valuation rolls indicates that by April 2005 The Granary had changed its name to The Foundry. At the time, The Foundry was operated by Mitchell & Butlers, one of the largest restaurant and pub businesses in the UK. Mitchell & Butlers own the O'Neill's chain of Irish pubs, the first branch of which opened at 9-10 Back Wynd, Aberdeen on 22nd September 1994. This was formerly the premises of the Tappit Hen pub (P&J, 16th September 1994, p. 3). In 2010, Mitchell & Butlers disposed of 333 of their town and community pubs to the Stonegate Pub Company. This likely included The Foundry ('Our history' page on Mitchell & Butlers website: https://www.mbplc.com/about-us/our-history/: accessed 22/03/2024). In November 2023, The Foundry reopened to the public following a brief closure for a significant redevelopment. Backed by a £277,000 investment from the Stonegate Group, the UK's largest pub company, the work aimed to shift the venue from a sports-focused pub to a more family-friendly food destination. The exterior design changed from a black and gold colour scheme to the red and gold of Aberdeen Football Club (Aberdeen Business News, 23rd November 2023, https://aberdeenbusinessnews.co.uk/the-foundry-unveils-stylish-transformation-after-major-investment/: accessed 22/03/2024).

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A photograph of the Union Street Pavilion of Union Terrace Gardens. This is the largest of the park's three pavilions. On 18th July 2025, this pavilion opened as a restaurant and bar called Wild Goose. Specialising in local food and drinks, it was spearheaded by the team behind Grub Fresh Food, a local catering, cafes and events business. This photograph was taken on 29th April 2024 and shows the pavilion while it was vacant and to let. In the intervening period, the pavilion was occupied by Our Union Street, a group focused on rejuvenating Aberdeen's main thoroughfare. This pavilion provides access to Union Terrace Gardens' restored Victorian toilets.

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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.

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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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Queen Mary's Dolls' House is a highly extravagant and detailed piece of miniature architecture and design built on a scale of 1:12 that comprises over 40 rooms, four elevations, two staircases, two working lifts, hot and cold running water in all five bathrooms, water closets that flushed, electric light, a cellar, a garage and a garden designed by the famous landscape gardener Gertrude Jekyll. It was commissioned by a friend of the Queen and cousin of King George V, Princess Marie Louise. The idea came about in Spring 1921, and at the private viewing of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Princess Marie Louise approached the noted architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, with the proposal to design and build a dolls' house fit for a queen. The house was to be a gift from the nation - recognising Queen Mary's charitable works throughout the Great War. In our collections we hold a concise two-volume account of the dolls' house, gifted to the library by Queen Mary in 1930. The first volume, The Book of the Queen's Dolls' House, was edited by the poet A. C. Benson and noted architectural writer, Sir Lawrence Weaver. The second volume is focused entirely on one room of the dolls' house and its contents - the Library. The Queen's Dolls' House Library is edited by the essayist and biographer E.V. Lucas. View our Treasures exhibition on the interactive screen to peek inside the dolls' house and find out more about the nation's gift to Queen Mary.

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