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 so, 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.

The archive holds the records of Aberdeen City Council and its predecessors dating back to the twelfth century. We also hold the records inherited by Aberdeenshire Council at a local government re-organisation in 1996 and the Assessor’s records for the Grampian Joint Valuation Board.

Our collections include the records of local businesses, churches, charities, voluntary organisations and individuals.

Our major holdings are:

Local authority records for the City, including those relating to the burghs of Aberdeen, Old Aberdeen and Woodside.

School and education records.

Burial records for City cemeteries.

Architectural drawings and papers relating to many (but not all) City buildings.

Registers of shipping and sea fishing vessels for the Port of Aberdeen.

Burgh Register of Sasines (including Town Clerk’s Protocol Books) from 1484 – 1809.

Kirk Session records for St. Nicholas, St. Clement’s, St. Clement’s Free, John Knox, Langstane and Greyfriars parishes – original Church of Scotland records for Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Kincardineshire can be found at the National Archives for Scotland.

Congregational, Episcopal and Methodist Church Records for a number of congregations in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

Private records of individuals and businesses.

The surviving records of local government administration in the former counties of Aberdeen, Kincardine and the part of historic Banffshire now in Aberdeenshire
Valuation Rolls and Registers of Electors.