Archives

Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire Archives

Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives exists to collect, preserve, promote and provide access to the historical records of Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council, together with other significant records relating to North East Scotland. By doing this, the Archives aims to support the culture, heritage, economy, and communities of North East Scotland and the ongoing business of Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council. 

Are you interested in family history? Local history? Are you doing a school project?

(Please note that in this video reference is made to Old Aberdeen House this is now closed)

Introduction to Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire Archives YouTube video

The collections of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives contain a wealth of documents and records dating from the 12th century to the present day, relating to the rich history and heritage of the City of Aberdeen and the three ancient counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine. A valuable resource for all kinds of research, they range from minutes, registers, accounts, letters and logbooks, to maps, plans and photographs and include:

• Burial records for the main city cemeteries before circa 1900
• School records including admission registers for almost 500 schools in the North East of Scotland
• Poor Relief records including Victorian parish registers of the poor in Aberdeenshire
• Church records for the ‘City churches’ of the Church of Scotland, many of the Congregational Churches and a number of Episcopalian and Methodist congregations in both the City and Shire
• Electoral Rolls for the City and other counties in the North East of Scotland
• The oldest and most complete collection of burgh records in Scotland, dating back to 1398, which were recognised by UNESCO in 2013 as being of outstanding historical importance to the United Kingdom.

Our Online Catalogue has detailed descriptions of many of our collections and is continually being updated.

To find out more about Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives, and how to visit the Town House search room, take a look at our access and visual guides, and our contact details.

More about the Archive Service

We provide an important service to members and officials of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils while maintaining public access to our collections through our searchroom services and outreach activities.

We ensure that the records are housed in secure accommodation under suitable environmental conditions. Fragile material is protected and stored appropriately and conservation of documents is undertaken by specialists when required.

The records are sorted and catalogued by us and made available to the public in the searchrooms. Our Online Catalogue has detailed descriptions of many of our collections and is continually updated. Collection level descriptions of some of our records are also available on the Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) and the Scottish Council on Archives Your Scottish Archives portal.

Reports and policies

Our annual reports detail the work our service has undertaken.