What records can I find in The Mitchell: Glasgow City Archives?
Glasgow City Archives hold records from many private businesses that were based in or around Glasgow. These range from large companies that employed huge numbers of workers, to small local businesses.
Business records can include company minutes, financial records, annual reports, brochures, and personnel records. Of most interest to family historians are personnel records, such as wage books, apprenticeship registers, staff photographs and accident books. However personnel records have not always survived, which means tracing ancestors using these records can be difficult.
The City Archives hold records for over 300 businesses, including the following industries and companies:
Chemical manufacturers
Engineers, iron and steel workers
Sir William Arrol & Co Ltd, bridge and crane builders (salary and wage books)
McKie & Baxter Ltd (staff photograph album of women WW1 workers)
Duncan Stewart & Co, engineers, London Road Ironworks (apprenticeship book and salary ledgers)
Interior Designers
Merchants, warehousemen and retail
David Black and Co Ltd, wholesale merchants and clothing manufacturers (wages books for Glasgow and Edinburgh branches)
Copland & Lye, warehousemen (list of staff and salary books)
Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd (a range of staff records for various departments)
Shipbuilding
Barclay, Curle & Co Ltd (wage books and salary lists)
Charles Connell & Co Ltd (pay books)
Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd (apprenticeship certificates)
John G Kincaid & Co Ltd (salary and wage books)
Hugh McLean & Sons Ltd (wage cost sheets)
Ship-owners
Burns & Laird Ltd (G & L Burns) (wage books for stevedores at various UK sites, and and salary ledgers)
Donaldson Brothers (Donaldson Line) (staff, salary and service books)
Thomas Dunlop & Son (crew lists and apprenticeship books)
Some records are closed for 75 years under data protection legislation. For more details about the type of personnel records within the above collections, and to check for any that may exist for other businesses, please contact the archivists.