300+ issues of the Aberlour Orphanage magazine now available to view online
The University of Stirling Archives is home to the extensive archive of Aberlour, Scotland’s Children’s Charity. In 2025 Aberlour celebrates 150 years of caring for disadvantaged children, young people and families across Scotland. The University Archives is engaged in a programme of digitisation of the Aberlour Orphanage Magazine to provide online access to this valuable resource.
To date 320 issues in total have been digitised and are available to view via our online archive catalogue. The magazines cover almost a century of care from the first issue of the Aberlour Orphanage Monthly Magazine published in March 1882 to the final issue of Advance, the magazine of the Aberlour Trust in December 1974. The digitised issues cover the following years, providing evidence of how Aberlour grew and developed over the decades: 1882-1883, 1885-1887, 1891, 1910-1915, 1930-1931, 1935-1936, 1940, 1944-1949, 1951-1955, 1958, 1960, 1964-1974.
How to access the digitised magazines:
The digitised copies of the magazine can be accessed via the online archive catalogue. Use the Browse this collection tab to view the full collection hierarchy where you can access individual catalogue descriptions for each issue (the full lists are revealed by using the + buttons on the left of the catalogue hierarchy). The series reference number for the magazine is ACCT/7/1. The physical copies of the magazines are bound in separate volumes by year and the volumes are arranged in chronological order.
The item-level description for each issue (within each volume) provides a link to the digitised copy via the thumbnail image on the right of the screen (for example ACCT/7/1/1/1).
Clicking on the image will provide access to the digitised copy of the magazine.
The magazines provide a detailed record of orphanage life. Features include a daily journal of events (which often note the arrival and departure of children), letters from old boys and girls, orphanage news and lists of subscriptions and donations. Promotional photographs of the orphanage and children are included (and often reused in multiple issues). Annual reports and accounts are included in the bound volumes of the magazine. The magazine was often referred to as the “little blue book” by readers and subscribers (and sometimes as the “little blue liar” by the children in the orphanage). While views may have differed, the range and depth of information included is impressive.
