Peter Rourke slide collection of Scottish Castles

Approximately 600 slides of Scottish castles and fortified houses, taken by Peter Rourke during the period c 1960 - 1994. The slides are arranged in 3 files, organised alphabetically by pre-1974 Scottish county. A fourth file contains an index to the slides, and notes prepared by N.Q. Bogden and I.B.D. Bryce, of the Scottish Castles Survey, which give brief historical details, bibliographic references and geographical location for each castle. The collection is thought to be comprehensive in its coverage of extant Scottish castles, and has been digitised by SCRAN, for inclusion in its Scottish educational resource web site. For further details see Existence/ Location of copies, below.

Peter Rourke was an amateur photographer of some note, who spent much of his life photographing and recording virtually all of the castles and fortified houses in Scotland. The extensive slide collection which he accumulated through this work was used to illustrate frequent audio-visual talks which he was invited to give on the subject.

Slides arranged alphabetically by pre-1974 Scottish county. Listing in progress

Open, subject to signature accepting conditions of use at reader registration sheet

Deposited in the University in Dec 1994, by Peter Rourke's family

An index to the slides, and notes prepared by N.Q. Bogden and I.B.D. Bryce, of the Scottish Castles Survey, which give brief historical details, bibliographic references and geographical location for each castle, are held with the collection.

Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/

Perthshire slides in the collection are reproduced in a video, Castles of Scotland: Perthshire (Tay Vision Leisure Marketing, 1998 and 2000).

Much of the collection was digitised during 2000 by SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network), and images are available on the SCRAN website http://www.scran.ac.uk/homepage/

Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Special Libraries and Archives (e-mail: speclib@abdn.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

This material has been appraised in line with normal procedures

No accruals expected

Simpson Collection (Sim). One of several named library collections maintained by the University, this valuable resource represents the working collection of Dr W. Douglas Simpson (1896-1968), archaeologist and Aberdeen University Librarian, who was an authority on castellated architecture, particularly in Scotland. The Collection contains all his works as well as inscribed copies from scholars in the same field. It consists of some 250 mostly interleaved and annotated copies of his own very numerous publications and related material, plus c. 150 pamphlets. There are also 5500 glass lantern slides used in his lectures, approx. 1750 postcards, and large-scale plans of buildings, produced in the course of his investigations. A collection level description is available from the Historic Collections home page http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/historic/collects/stiqcgi/prelim01.html.

The Simpson Collection is complemented by several deposits of W. Douglas Simpson's personal papers, relating principally to his research and publications on Scottish architecture and archaeology (GB 231 MS 2229; GB 231 MS 2230; GB 231 MS 2285; GB 231 MS 2398; GB 231 MS 2498; GB 231 MS 2729; GB 231 MS 2818; GB 231 MS 2910; GB 231 MS 2968; GB 231 MS 3042; GB 231 MS 3442).

Papers of Harry Gordon Slade, architectural historian, comprising plans, drawings, papers and printed articles, relating to the architecture of towns, villages, castles, stately homes and vernacular buildings, principally (though not exclusively) of the north east of Scotland, 1971 - 2001 (GB 231 MS 3127).

Papers of William Kelly (1861-1944), architect, comprising notebooks, sketch-books, photographs, lectures, relating to castles and other buildings (GB 231 MS 2380) and his Collection of papers relating to Glenbuchat Castle, Aberdeenshire, with letters to J.M. Bulloch (GB 231 MS 2195)

See Existence/ Location of copies, above

This material is original