Aberdeen City Libraries - Local Studies

About this Organisation

Aberdeen Local Studies provide information and help with research on all aspects of the city and the surrounding area from the earliest period of history to the present day.

Join us to discover your family history, enjoy friendly learning opportunities, build the history of your local area, explore lots of online resources and use all our facilities and services.

We look forward to welcoming you to Aberdeen Local Studies and assisting with your research. If you have any questions or would like further information on our service, please contact the Local Studies team.

Our collections:

  • Books and pamphlets ranging from sixteenth century early printed books to the latest local publications and covering the whole spectrum of local studies
  • Local newspapers and periodicals dating from 1747 to the present day
  • Maps of Aberdeen from 1661 to the present day; current and historical Ordnance Survey maps
  • Historic photographs: our website, The Silver City Vault (www.silvercityvault.org.uk) contains thousands of images of Aberdeen
  • Aberdeen Post Office Directories from 1824 to 1982
  • Electoral registers for Aberdeen from 1909, Aberdeenshire from 1918 and Kincardineshire from 1953
  • Valuation rolls for Aberdeen from 1965, Aberdeenshire from 1859, Banffshire from 1877 and Kincardineshire from 1862
  • Old Parish Registers of baptisms, marriages and deaths up to 1854
  • Census Returns from 1841 to 1901
  • Monumental Inscriptions and Burial Records for local churchyards
  • Free access to the websites Ancestry Library Edition, Find My Past and the British Newspaper Archive

Opening hours:

  • Monday and Wednesday: 9am to 8pm
  • Tuesday, Thursday to Saturday: 9am to 5pm

Organisation Type

Public Library or Archive

Location

Aberdeen Central Library
Rosemount Viaduct
Aberdeen
AB25 1GW
Entry last updated: August 23rd, 2019

Resources Available

Title Description Type
The Silver City Vault

The Silver City Vault is the online home of Aberdeen Local Studies. It is an ever-expanding collection of digitised material relating to Aberdeen City and the surrounding area. At present it hosts over 3,000 historic photographs, postcards, plans, posters and adverts. The site also contains many index records relating to Aberdeen local and family history topics.

... read more

Online/Digitised, Images/Photographs
Local Studies' books and pamphlet collection

Aberdeen City Libraries Local Studies hold a large collection of books and pamphlets ranging from sixteenth century early printed books to the latest local publications and covering the whole spectrum of subjects related to the city and the surrounding area.

This collection can be searched using our online catalogue ( ... read more

Primary, Secondary
Aberdeen Local Studies - Newspaper holdings on microfilm

Aberdeen City Libraries Local Studies hold an extensive collection of historical newspapers on microfilm, covering not only Aberdeen, but also Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Kincardineshire. The earliest is the first edition of “The Aberdeen’s Journal” of 29 December 1747. We maintain up-to-date files of ‘The Press and Journal’, ‘Evening Express’, and other selected local titles, with more ... read more

Primary, Newspaper

Please note that links to websites and catalogues are provided by the Organisations listed and not maintained by Scottish Local History Forum.