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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.

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A photograph of St. Mary's Chapel at St. Nicholas Church in around 1898. Historic Environment Scotland's listed building information suggests this lower church was built in 1438. It was part of the 15th century expansion of St. Nicholas and located to the east of the then existing building. The main church was subsequently expanded eastwards over it. Work was completed on the crypt in around 1507 and it was dedicated to the Virgin as Our Lady of Pity, from which derives the various names it has been known over the years; Pity Vault, the Cell of Our Lady of Pity, and St. Mary's Chapel. The space has served many purposes since its creation and seen a number of renovations. It has been a general storehouse for sundry municipal items, including the gibbet, a plumber's shop, a public soup kitchen, a meeting place of the presbytery of Aberdeen, and a regular church. More can be read about the chapel in Old Landmarks of Aberdeen (1885) by G. Gordon Burr and Alex. M. Munro, The Story of St. Mary's Chapel: The Ancient "Lower Church" or Crypt of St. Nicholas (1935) by The Rev. J. G. Grant Fleming and in the history section of the St. Nicholas Church website.

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Walker Road primary School.

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This image shows HUU432, a Bedford OB coach parked outside Seafield Garage in Cullen. Notice the extensive array of petrol pumps in the background, with such examples as "National Benzone" and "Power". The vehicle was owned and operated by Donald Grant. Of solid construction, it no doubt covered many hundreds of miles in its journeys through the North-East. Seafield Garage was owned by John Lawrence, who was another bus operator in the town. (Many thanks to Dr Mike Mitchell and Peter Findlay for additional information about this image.)

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This photograph, from around 1910, shows John Reid Reith standing in the doorway of his chemists shop in Cults - then a village about 3 miles west of Aberdeen. Reith was a native of Cullen in Morayshire but served his apprenticeship in Aberdeen before moving to London for several years. When he came back to Cults, he opened this business. He was involved in many other village activities and was a member of the Cults Fire Brigade. He died in 1926 at the age of 58. The premises shown are still used as a chemist's shop, now known as St. Devenick's Pharmacy.

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Aberdeen Public Soup Kitchen was first established as a charity in 1800 in St. Mary's Chapel in St. Nicholas Church. It supplied a breakfast of coffee and bread and a lunch of bread, soup and a piece of beef or mutton to the needy of the city. In a period of nearly 240 days it supplied over 140,000 servings of soup and bread. The Soup Kitchen moved to Loch Street in 1838 and this new building was opened by Lord Provost Stewart in December 1894. The ground floor dining room had accommodation for at least 50 people and the tables were marble topped. In 1926, a total of nearly 27,000 meals were provided with funding still coming from charitable donations since few could afford even the two pence (1p) for the lunch. The building survived major developments in the surrounding area but in recent years its charitable purpose was no longer thought necessary, and it was converted into a café in the mid 1990s. In 2022, the building still stands at 41-43 Loch Street, with the covered walkway for John Lewis and the Bon Accord Centre to its south (to the left of this image). It is occupied by a outlet of the Jo Malone London fragrance and candle store.

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Cullen House is situated in the small town of Cullen on the Moray coast. It occupies a site where, at one time, stood a monastery and later a fortress. The present building dates from 1602 and is an enormously complicated structure which has had various extensions added over the centuries. It was the ancestral home of the Earls of Seafield but they have not resided there since 1975, when it was decided to put the house and its contents up for auction. During the period 1982-85, the house was converted into separate dwelling houses by architect Kit Martin but, in 1987, the building suffered a serious fire and has subsequently been restored. This view was taken from the south-east by local photographer Seivwright when the house was still occupied by the Earls of Seafield.

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An illustration of the Aberdeen Boys School of Industry in around 1841. The first Industrial School was opened on 1st October 1841 in Chronicle Lane. It was set up by Sheriff William Watson and was intended for the industrial training of boys between the ages of 8 and 14 years. These boys were the children of the poorest classes, and chiefly 'those who are found to infest our streets, begging and stealing.' They were educated and provided with food and worked for a few hours per day at teasing wool, netmaking or gardening. Dinner was broth, beef and bread, or occasionally potato soup, or kail. The boys would go home to their families after 8pm, but those who were homeless went to the House of Refuge. Religious worship was also an important part of their regime. In the first six months of the school, 109 boys were admitted, although the average daily attendance was less than 60. It was reported that juvenile vagrancy and crime had decreased attendance at the Industrial School was made compulsory. It was then found necessary to find a larger building in 1856 which eventually became Oldmill Reformatory. Industrial Schools existed until the mid 1930s.

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Mail coaches began in the 1780s from Edinburgh and by 1835, 27 coaches were running to various places from Aberdeen. The Earl of Fife Coach seems to have started running around 1830, leaving Castle Street every morning at 7am and travelling via Old Meldrum, Turriff, Banff, Portsoy, Cullen and Fochabers where it joined the coaches to Inverness. It would arrive at Banff about 1pm, having changed horses on route. Coaches were often named from the noblemen in the district in which they ran. The coach's arrival was heralded by a bugle call, and the coachman is described as wearing a blue coat with red trimmings, white hat with a black band, shining shoes and grey spats. As railways expanded throughout the 1850's coaches were no longer required and gradually disappeared from the roads. This illustration depicts the coach circa 1840.

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A photograph from around 1986 looking north east along Loch Street, from its junction with George Street. It shows the entrance to Norco House and the Aberdeen Soup Kitchen building beyond.

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A photograph looking south towards the Post Office branch at 32 Loch Street in around 1986 or 1987. Norco House and the Aberdeen Public Soup Kitchen would have been across the road, behind the camera here. This image is one of a series taken by Aberdeen City Council to record buildings prior to the redevelopment of the area and construction of the Bon Accord shopping centre. As can be seen below a royal cypher for George VI, this Post Office branch on Loch Street dates from 1939. Its final day of operation was Monday 13th April 1987. An article covering its closure, to make way for the shopping centre, can be found in the Press & Journal newspaper of that day on page 3. At its creation this Loch Street branch replaced a Post Office at 242 George Street. Following its closure, the Post Office opened a new branch in the St. Nicholas Centre on Tuesday 15th September 1987 (Press & Journal, 16th September 1987, page 5). The site shown in the photograph would become the location of part of the Bon Accord Centre's north elevation.

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The front cover of a menu card from the dinner held at the Music Hall to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the tramways in Aberdeen. The event took place on 2nd September 1924 and the actual jubilee was 31st August of the same year. The inside of the card details the food served, which included kidney or tomato soup, baked haddock, roast beef, steak and kidney pie, and a selection of desserts. The food was supplied by The Douglas Hotel on Market Street. The card also lists toasts to the King and the Corporation of Aberdeen Tramways Committee. The latter was proposed by Mr. James Barnett and acknowledged by the committee's chairman. Additionally, a number of songs were sung by Mr. Anderson and Miss Mary Topp and the card details an extensive programme of dances. The master of ceremonies was Mr. James F. Donald (1870-1934). He was major figure in Aberdeen cinemas and theatres and served as a local government councillor. The menu originally belonged to George Niven, who worked for the Corporation of Aberdeen Tramways, and was kindly donated to Aberdeen Local Studies by his daughter in May 2018.

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The inside 2 pages of a 4-page Evening Gazette supplement about the large Highland and Agricultural Society Show that took place in Aberdeen on 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th July 1894. These pages show illustrated portraits of various prominent individuals involved in the Society and the show: A. M. Gordon of Newton Walter George Hepburne-Scott (9th Lord Polwarth) F. H. Forbes of Irvine of Drum Arthur James Balfour (then an M.P., later to be Prime Minister between 1902 and 1905) George V (then the Duke of York) Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox (6th Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox, and 1st Duke of Gordon) Dr Alexander Profeit (Royal doctor at Balmoral from 1874) James Macdonald (Secretary of the Highland and Agricultural Society from 1893 to 1912) Baillie Daniel Mearns (later Provost of Aberdeen from 1895-1898) J. Campbell of Old Cullen George Bruce (Secretary of the Royal Northern Agricultural Society) J. Sleigh of Strichen W. H. Lumsden of Balmedie Sir George Macpherson-Grant Colonel Smith of Midmore J. Marr of Cairnbrogie Sir Arthur Henry Grant (9th Baronet of Monymusk) P. M. Turnbull of Smithston

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This is the front page of a two-sided broadside style pamphlet. The back page can be seen here. The document implores the electorate to consider voting for the document's author, Holt Mackenzie (1786-1876). Mackenzie was running for election in the 1832 General Election, for the House of Commons seat Elgin Burghs. Holt was the son of the acclaimed Scottish author Henry Mackenzie. Mackenzie himself was a prominent member of the East India Company, and was central to the establishment of the Mahalwari system. The system maintained village-level-autonomy in India, to enable Britain to exercise control over wide-scale taxation whilst being able to outsource its collection. He retired later, and in 1832 was made a member of the Privy Council. In the document, Mackenzie opens by establishing himself as an advocate of liberal policy in India where he was a colonial administrator. He voices himself as attached to the "free institutions" of Britain and its freedom. Mackenzie argues that he is a reformist. Mackenzie argues that he is neither a Whig nor a Tory, but a liberally inclined free standing, liberally inclined individual. Still, Mackenzie stood in the election as a Tory. He lost the vote to Alexander Leith Hay, the Whig candidate.

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This is the back page of a two-sided broadside style pamphlet. The front page can be seen here. The document implores the electorate to consider voting for the document's author, Holt Mackenzie (1786-1876). Mackenzie was running for election in the 1832 General Election, for the House of Commons seat Elgin Burghs. Holt was the son of the acclaimed Scottish author Henry Mackenzie. Mackenzie himself was a prominent member of the East India Company, and was centre to the establishment of the Mahalwari system. The system maintained village-level-autonomy in India, to enable Britain to exercise control over wide-scale taxation whilst being able to outsource its collection. He retired later, and in 1832 was made a member of the Privy Council. In the document, Mackenzie opens by establishing himself as an advocate of liberal policy in India where he was a colonial administrator. He voices himself as attached to the "free institutions" of Britain and its freedom. Mackenzie argues that he is a reformist. Mackenzie argues that he is neither a Whig nor a Tory, but a liberally inclined free standing, liberally inclined individual. Still, Mackenzie stood in the election as a Tory. He lost the vote to Alexander Leith Hay, the Whig candidate.

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Elsewhere on the Silver City Vault can be found digital images of all 4 pages of no. 96 of the Aberdeen Intelligencer newspaper covering 30th July 1754 to 6th August 1754. This is the only known surviving copy of the newspaper. The paper, which operated from 3rd October 1752 to 22nd February 1757, was published by Francis Douglas and William Murray. Although the Library's copy of the Intelligencer shows his name as Duglass, it is more usually spelt as Douglas. Francis Douglas was born in Logie Coldstone on Deeside in 1719 and was apprenticed as a baker in Aberdeen before moving to London for a period. On his return he opened a bakery in the Netherkirkgate in 1743 and joined St Paul's Episcopal Church. As one of the Jacobite sympathisers in Aberdeen, he suffered when the Duke of Cumberland arrived in Aberdeen. In 1748, he began to trade as a bookseller in addition to his bakery business which he eventually gave up a few years later. He then set up his printing house in the Broadgate thus breaking the monopoly of printing in the city which was then held by the Chalmers family. William Murray was a druggist and seems to have been a sleeping partner in the printing enterprise and, when the Intelligencer ceased, it appears that his partnership with Douglas was dissolved. In addition to his newspaper, Douglas also ventured into printing or reprinting books and pamphlets on a variety of subjects including history, travel, religion, poetry and farming in which he was extremely interested. Examples of some of his printed works, including some authored by Douglas, are held in our Local Collections at Aberdeen City Libraries. During 1761, Douglas also tried publishing a monthly periodical called The Aberdeen Magazine but only 12 issues were produced. After this lack of success, Douglas appears to have given up printing and he moved to a farm at Drum. However, he became involved in the celebrated Douglas peerage case whose court proceedings lasted for ten years after the death of the Duke of Douglas in 1761. Francis supported the claims of Archibald Stewart Douglas who finally succeeded. Douglas later received the life-rent of the farm of Abbot's Inch, Paisley on the Duke's property. Here he wrote A General Description of the East Coast of Scotland from Edinburgh to Cullen, published in Paisley in 1782, of which about half describes his native Aberdeen area. It is still one of the best authorities for its contemporary description of the general conditions of the area in the late eighteenth century. Douglas died in 1786 and was buried in Paisley Abbey Churchyard. However, according to an article written by G.M. Fraser in 1916, there is no record of Francis Douglas in any existing burial registers or any memorial to mark his grave.

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