Archives Hub feature for July 2025
Aberlour Children’s Charity began as an orphanage in 1875, founded by Canon Charles Jupp in Aberlour, Scotland. Originally established to care for “mitherless bairns,” the orphanage grew into one of Scotland’s largest children’s institutions, housing up to 500 children at its peak. Over time, the charity evolved, shifting from large-scale residential care to more tailored support services for vulnerable children, young people, and families across Scotland.
The archive of the Trust, dating right back to the foundation of Aberlour Orphanage, was transferred to the University of Stirling in 2021 as part of a research project between the University of Stirling and the University of Osnabrück entitled ‘Back to the Future: Archiving Residential Children’s Homes’ (ARCH). This research project was supported by the Arts and Humanities Council and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG) and aimed to explore and improve how the everyday group care experiences of children and young people in residential care are captured and preserved. To fully explore the possibilities, the project team worked in active partnership with young people and care experienced adults as well as using the Aberlour Archive as an example of the kinds of records which have historically been created, kept and made available to those who are care experienced.
The cataloguing of the collection was made possible through the ‘Archives Revealed’ funding scheme, which was jointly awarded by The National Archives, The Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation in 2021 and allows archive services to make significant collections accessible that otherwise would be difficult to catalogue using existing resources. After two fantastic Project Archivists, Jenny and Jennifer, had sorted, conserved and created a full catalogue for the archive, it was launched officially in 2022 with the donation of the personal collection of a former resident of the orphanage.
During this project we were also able to digitise sets of key historical records in the collection to support research. These records can be found embedded in our online catalogue, including files in the photograph series which contain a striking visual record of Aberlour and issues of the subscriber publication Aberlour Orphanage Magazine, rich in detail and notorious for being rose-tinted despite its blue colour, earning it the nickname ‘the little blue book of lies’ among the children!
In 2025, this incredible organisation proudly celebrates its 150th anniversary and the University Archive and Special Collections is supporting a range of activities and events planned by Aberlour throughout the year. It has been wonderful to support the present day charity in using the archive to tell the story of Aberlour and the tens of thousands of children and young people who have been supported by the organisation in its long history.
Key among the anniversary celebrations is an exhibition entitled ‘Aberlour: Now and Then’ which opened at the Strathspey Visitor Centre in Aberlour. Combining historic photographs and unique and striking objects from the archive – including the original clock from the orphanage in Aberlour – the exhibition speaks to the rich history of the institution and hints at its role in providing records for care experienced people with which they can evidence their lives and relate their childhood.
The exhibition closed at Strathspey and is now open to all in the University of Stirling Library until 31st August 2025. For a sneak preview of material on display, you can watch a video of Aberlour staff visiting the archive to conduct some research for their anniversary celebrations.
Rosie Al-Mulla Taylor
Assistant Archivist
University of Stirling Archives & Special Collections
Related
Aberlour Children’s Charity, 1875-2018
Descriptions of other collections held by University of Stirling Archives & Special Collections can be found on Archives Hub here:
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/locations/432c5063-357b-379b-a60d-f6c75864dc86
All images copyright University of Stirling Archives & Special Collections and reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright holder.