Glasgow City Archives

01/06/2022

Group of thousand-gallon cows, Woodilee, 1935

Did you know that Glasgow Corporation used to run its own dairy farms?

After the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1929, the Public Health Department of the Corporation took ownership of the three farms supplying milk to Woodilee, Gartloch and Hawkhead hospitals. It also ran Hazeltonhead and Brackenhirst farms. All these dairy farms were under the control of a Farms Manager who was helped at each location by an Assistant Farm Manager.

The milk produced on the Corporation dairy farms was pure and safe. These were essential qualities given that the milk supplied hospitals and was also used in the Corporation’s child welfare initiatives.

Archive ref: D-HE6/1/19

31/05/2022

Inspection and marking for Rolls-Royce trainees, Stow College, c.1940

Today, we’re sharing a third image from the Rolls-Royce, Hillington photo album. At one point, Rolls-Royce employed 25,000 workers at Hillington and became the largest factory in terms of its employees in Scotland.

Archive ref: TD2144

30/05/2022

Glasgow College of Printing (Calton Annexe), Kerr Street, c1970.

This building was originally Calton Public School and was designed by John Gordon for the School Board of Glasgow in 1890.

Archive ref: D-ED5/29/7/130A

29/05/2022

Watch out...Learners about!
Learner drivers on Crow Road, n.d.
Ref: D-OPW76/45A

29/05/2022

Trongate, looking east, 1914 Archive Ref: P1863

28/05/2022

Glasgow archaeologists dig for lost treasures from 1988 garden festival

Glasgow archaeologists dig for lost treasures from 1988 garden festival

The hunt is now on for missing exhibits from the event that helped to transform a post-industrial city

28/05/2022

An amazing view of Gordon Street, 1914, looking east.
Archive Ref: P1862

28/05/2022

504 Dumbarton Rd, 1936
Sir Thomas Lipton was born 1850 in Gorbals. Lipton opened first shop in 1871, entered tea trade & became one of major entrepreneurs of city. An avid yachtsman, during WW1 Lipton offered his yachts to Red Cross & Scottish Women's Hospital.
Ref: D-CA8/1033

27/05/2022

Buck's Head Building at the corner of Argyle St and Dunlop St, in 1972

It was built on the site of the old Buck’s Head Hotel in 1863 by local architects Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson and George Thomson.

Ref: D-PL2/1/2673

26/05/2022

Check out our latest local history blog, in partnership with Glasgow Times History.

This week we’re looking at one of Glasgow’s most iconic buildings and home to the City Archives, the Mitchell Library https://www.glasgowfamilyhistory.org.uk/blog/Pages/Mitchell-Library---Times-Past.aspx

Image Ref: P9659

25/05/2022

What a shopping experience it must have been at Copland & Lye’s millinery department 👒 🛍️, at their Caledonian House store, Sauchiehall Street around 1911.
Archive ref: TD128/175

24/05/2022

Interior of Partick Bath and Wash House in the 1920’s. The Partick steamie opened in 1914 on what was then Douglas Street (now Purdon Street). It included 56 washing stalls along with 18 baths for men and 8 baths for women! In the 1960’s it was converted into a laundrette with electric washing machines.

Ref: D-BW1/9

23/05/2022

The Sunlight Cottages ☀️ at Kelvingrove Park during the 1901 Glasgow International Exhibition.

The cottages were built as part of the exhibition, from designs by James Miller and still stand today. They are based on homes built at Port Sunlight, near Liverpool, for workers at Levers Bros.

Ref: TD808/7

23/05/2022

Seven centuries of Irish archives painstakingly recreated after being destroyed in civil war

In 1922 during the Civil War the Public Record Office in Four Courts Dublin went up in flames. Now, on the eve of the disaster’s centenary, a virtual reconstruction of the building and its archives is to be unveiled. Historians, archivists and computer scientists have spent five years piecing together much of what had been thought lost for ever.

Digital wizardry and academic sleuthing have helped recreate a cultural treasure severely damaged in the conflict in 1922

22/05/2022

Glasgow Corporation Cleansing Dept Horse Parade, c 1952
Based at 142 Bell St, the Dept complex housed stables and the department’s general store & granary - department farms supplied the hay, straw and grain for distributing to depots across Glasgow.
Ref: P1271, P1272

22/05/2022

Argyle St, c.1896 from album of views of Glasgow, published by Burns, Crawford & Co, Glasgow.
Archive Ref: P718/10

21/05/2022

100 Argyle St and the Argyll Arcade, September 1930.
The Argyll Arcade is one of Europe’s oldest covered shopping arcades and Scotland’s first ever indoor shopping mall. The L-shaped arcade was built in 1827 in the Parisian style. The arcade was cut through old tenements and provides a link between Argyle Street and Buchanan Street.
Ref: D-CA8/175

21/05/2022

Repairs done while you wait! Old Boot repair shop at 418 Argyle Street, Anderston, undated.
Ref: D-CA8/199

20/05/2022

Nearly time for a weekend tipple! Here's The Bear's Paw pub on Garscube Road, 1933. The pub was demolished in the early 1970s.
Ref: D-CA8/1238

19/05/2022

Check out our latest local history blog, in partnership with Glasgow Times History.

This week we explore the Belgian refugee crisis of 1914 and Glasgow's role in helping out: https://www.glasgowfamilyhistory.org.uk/blog/Pages/Belgian-Refugees---Times-Past.aspx

(Pic: Belgian refugees returning home on SS Khyber, Jan 1919, with members of the relief committee)

18/05/2022

On this day in 1939, the Cosmo Cinema (now GFT) opened its doors. The UK's first purpose built "art-house" cinema outside London, the Cosmo played an important part in the cultural life of the city for decades. It was taken over by the Scottish Film Council in 1974 and became the Glasgow Film Theatre.

Here's the original building and signage, peeking out of the left-hand side of this image of Rose St and Sauchiehall St, the month after it opened.

Ref: D-CA8/2899

17/05/2022

A peek inside the hairdressing salon at Stow College, 1960.

Ref: P1269

16/05/2022

This image captioned "shop litter" was taken by the Glasgow Corporation Cleansing Department to illustrate the problem of rubbish on the streets. It's not just a modern phenomenon! Photo of Crown Street, no date.

Ref: P1503

15/05/2022

Glassford St, 1954, looking south from Ingram St. Archive Ref: P1322

15/05/2022

Rental of the L***r Hospital at the Brigend, Gorbals
Leprosy was a common disease throughout medieval western Europe.While not fully understood, there was a a realisation that leprosy was highly contagious. Glasgow's l***r house, St Nicholas Hospital, was located outwith the city limits at the bridge end south of Glasgow bridge in Gorbals, ensuring its isolation from the town. The l***rs were allowed to come and buy food, as long as they carried clappers to warn of their presence and stood down-wind of the healthy. A cemetery was attached to the colony where the l***rs were buried.
It was founded by Bishop Muirhead in the mid 15th century and was managed by him and later bishops until the abolition of the episcopacy in 1689. By 1716 Glasgow's Magistrates become responsible for its affairs.

14/05/2022

An image of the Working Boys Home and Children’s Night Refuge, James Morrison Street, c.1902.
Opened in 1876 as the City Orphanage by William Quarrier, it accommodated 100 boys and gave temporary care to a further 100 boys and girls. He was a committed Christian and having risen out of poverty himself, Quarrier was inspired to help the destitute children who slept rough on Glasgow's streets. In the same year he opened the City Orphanage, he bought Nittingshill farm at Bridge-of-Weir,and opened Quarrier’s Orphan Homes there in 1878. William established a programme of emigration to Canada in 1872 and migrations from Quarrier’s continued until 1938
Archive Ref: D-HE 8/2, p.13B

14/05/2022

Western Infirmary, Byres Rd, Partick, postmark 1906 Archive Ref: P9654

13/05/2022

New shops for Anniesland Co-operative Society Ltd, 56 – 64 Fulton Street, Temple, Apr 1930

Archive ref: D-CA8/1186

12/05/2022

Carte de visite showing Nurse Rae (centre) with colleagues, Barnhill Poorhouse, c1898.

This photo is from the papers of Margaret Melville Rae (ref: TD966) who trained as a nurse at Barnhill and worked there for four years before becoming a Queen’s Nurse in January 1899.

Archive ref: P09044

11/05/2022

The Rolls-Royce factory, Hillington, c.1940.

In March, we shared an image from a photo album dedicated to this factory and lots of you asked to see more photos.

Here’s one showing the early stages of the Merlin engine’s final assembly. Each engine moved down the track on four castor feet and was transferred to successive sidings where the work began.

Such was the importance of the factory’s work that it was one of the original targets of the German bombing raids of 13 and 14 March 1941. These were the attacks which resulted in the devastation of parts of Clydeside, notably the burgh of Clydebank and Kilmun Street in Maryhill.

Archive ref: TD2144

10/05/2022

The fireboat St Mungo, River Clyde, 1959.

Built by Hugh McLean & Sons Ltd of Renfrew, the fireboat was officially launched for the Glasgow Fire Service on 21 May 1959. Originally insured for £80,000, the 68-foot-long vessel provided valuable assistance in fighting fires from the river. Its pumping machines drew up river water which could then be directed in sprays from the deck.

After local government re-organisation in 1975, Glasgow became part of Strathclyde Fire Service and the St Mungo was sold to Offshore Workboats Ltd.

Archive ref: TD1431/54/7