Papers of Joseph Robertson

GB 231 MS 0525 - 0530 Records relating to Robertson's work on a Biographia Aberdonensis, 1833 - 1837. The collection comprises 3 small manuscript volumes, entitled Biographia Aberdonensis, which contain his detailed notes on notable persons and families associated with Aberdeen, compiled in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, 1833 - 1834; an index to these volumes, compiled by Jean Kennedy, in 1911; and 2 further volumes, also entitled Biographia Aberdonensis, compiled in 1837, but apparently incomplete.

GB 231 MS 0973 Correspondence between Joseph Robertson, John Stuart, and Patrick Chalmers, relating to New Spalding Club Publications, 1847 - 1853. Robertson is the principal correspondent.

GB 231 MS 2397 Letter from Joseph Robertson, Auchingramoch, Hamilton, to an unidentified correspondent, 21 November 1855

Joseph Robertson was born in Aberdeen in 1810 and graduated from Marischal College, Aberdeen, MA 1825. He worked in journalism and book publishing for nearly 20 years, before being appointed in 1853, as Curator of the Historical Department in Register House, Edinburgh. He was co-founder of the Spalding Club (est. Aberdeen, 1839), with his friend John Stuart, lawyer and historian (from 1873 Principal Keeper of the Register of Deeds, Edinburgh), and editor of many of its early works, including Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff (Aberdeen: Spalding Club, 1843) and Fasti Aberdonensis (Aberdeen: Spalding Club, 1854). Other publications include, The book of Bon Accord: A guide to the city of Aberdeen (Aberdeen: Smith, 1939), and A Guide to the Highlands of Deeside (Aberdeen: Davidson, 1831).

For further details see W. Douglas Simpson, The Three Spalding Clubs: A century in retrospect, in Third Spalding Club Miscellany, vol. 2 (Aberdeen: Third Spalding Club, 1940)

None observed - listing in process.

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GB 231 MS 0525 - 0530: deposited in the University in 1896, by Miss Robertson [?Joseph Robertson's daughter]GB 231 MS 0525 - 0530: deposited in the University in 1896, by Miss Robertson [?Joseph Robertson's daughter]GB 231 MS 0973: date and source not recorded - probably deposited by the Third Spalding Club in the 1930s GB 231 MS 0973: date and source not recorded - probably deposited by the Third Spalding Club in the 1930s GB 231 MS 2397: date and source not recorded - probably deposited c 1954

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

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Records of the Spalding Club are deposited in the University. A separate collection level description is available on the Archives Hub

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