Museum Wormianum. Historia rerum rariorum, tam naturalium, quam artificialium, tam domesticarum, quam exoticarum quae Hafniae Danorum in aedibus authoris servantur (Lugduni Batavaorum, Elsevier, 1655): Aberdeen SLA FL f Zeta 2.41.
Introduction to the Collections
The research activities of CEMS are directly supported by the riches of the University’s Historic Collections, amassed over half a millennium in the Department of Special Libraries and Archives ( SLA) and the Marischal Museum. These collections within the University are complemented by other local historical resources, including the unusually rich records housed in the Aberdeen City Archives and the historic resources managed by the Aberdeen Maritime Museum, the National Trust for Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland, and Historic Scotland. The archival holdings of the university comprise some 3,700 discrete collections which contain some 250,000 individual items, most of them relating to the history and culture of the North-east of Scotland. The printed holdings consist of some 150,000 items. About one third of these were published prior to 1800. These include some 231 incunabula, over 4200 16th-century continental imprints, a similar number of early English and Scottish printed books, and larger numbers from the 17th and 18th centuries. The thematic strengths of the collections are clustered around the intellectual and teaching areas central to the early modern university curriculum, namely: the three higher faculties of theology, law and medicine, and the very broad undergraduate course in ’arts’ or ’philosophy’. For further information go to http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/historic/Intro.shtml.
A summary of the University’s collections and resources can be found below.
The printed collections held in Special Libraries & Archives are listed on the main library catalogue and can be searched for specifically. In addition, a separate Collection Level Database is also available to search, which provides a useful overview of the four main chronological runs and the forty plus named collections.
A separate catalogue of the University’s archives and manuscripts is available to search on-line. CALM currently holds over 1,000 collection level descriptions and over 12,000 individual descriptive pages.
Many of the objects from Marischal Museum’s extensive collections can also be searched online using the LEMUR database.
From 2011, the Historic Collections will be housed in a new building, the flagship project of the University's Sixth Century Campaign, which is currently being built. This £57 million ($114m) project will be the largest capital fundraising project undertaken to date by the University, offering unique opportunities for both the University community and for scholars and the wider public throughout the world. For further information go to http://www.abdn.ac.uk/newlibrary/.
Manuscript Materials
Read More »The archival holdings of the university comprise some 3,700 discrete collections which contain some 250,000 individual items, most of them relating to the history and culture of the North-east of Scotland. The main archival collections are now listed in a web-mounted database. The four main divisions of the archive most relevant to early modern studies are discussed separately on this site, namely the University archives, the collection of medieval manuscripts, the extensive records of local individuals, and the numerous collections of estate and family papers.
University Archive
The records of the University were created as part of its administrative activities, and thus represent important historical documents of ...Medieval manuscripts
The University currently possesses some two hundred medieval manuscripts, ranging in date from the eleventh to the sixteenth century, varying ...Records of local individuals
The University has attracted numerous personal archives of individuals, most of whom have been connected with the University of Aberdeen ...Estate and family papers
There is a vast number of estate and family papers as well as business archives, mainly from the North-east of ...Top of PagePrinted Materials
Read More »The printed holdings of SLA consist of some 150,000 items. About one third of these were published prior to 1800. These include some 231 incunabula, over 4200 16th-century continental imprints, a similar number of early English and Scottish printed books, and larger numbers from the 17th and 18th centuries. These chronological groupings and their main thematic strengths are discussed elsewhere on this site. Main collections of printed books are also described in a web-mounted searchable database. Individual books can be located through the main computerised library catalogue
The historic core of the college libraries is broken down into the following chronological arrangement.
Incunabula
The University’s collections currently include 231 incunabula (Inc. collection) - that is, books printed before 1501. Many of these volumes ...Early printed books
The second main division (pi collection) includes over 7200 early printed books. The largest portion of these (over 4200 books) ...Later printed books
The third major chronological division (SB collection) of the historic core at the library contains around 28,500 books from the ...Local imprints
These core holdings are substantially supplemented by a number of other specialised bibliographical collections, for instance the small but unique ...Later Benefactions
A large number of these volumes stem from benefactions, large and small, to the college by alumni, faculty, and other ...Top of PageThematic Strengths
Read More »The thematic strengths of both the medieval manuscripts and the printed collections are clustered around the intellectual and teaching areas central to the early modern university curriculum, namely: the three higher faculties of theology, law and medicine, and the very broad undergraduate course in ’arts’ or ’philosophy’.
The historic core of the college libraries is broken down into the following chronological arrangement.