Kirkcaldy Galleries (Library, Gallery & Museum)

Local and Family History Department, Abbotshall Road, Kirkcaldy, Fife. KY1 1YG
Tel. 01592 583206; email: kirkcaldy.galleries[at]fife.gov[dot]uk

Opening hours:
Mon: 10.00 am - 5 pm
Tues: 10.00 am - 5 pm
Wed: 11.00 am - 5 pm
Thurs: 10.00 am - 7 pm
Fri: 10.00 am - 5 pm
Sat: 10.00 am - 4 pm
Sun: 12 noon - 4 pm
Disabled Access: Ramp to front entrance, automatic doors, disabled toilets and adult changing facility, induction loops

The Library has an extensive Local History Department which contains much original manuscript material as well as printed volumes, typescript indexes, notes, etc. of much value for the genealogist. The collection covers the Kirkcaldy and Central Fife area, but there is a lot of printed material concerning the rest of Fife.

The Local Studies Department has produced Family History Sources in Kirkcaldy Central Library by Sheila Campbell, pub. 1994 (£2), to assist people researching their ancestors in the Library. It is a detailed list of the main contents of the Library and this listing is extracted from it. There are many other sources, both manuscript and printed, available in this local collection.

Computer terminals allow free access to ancestry.co.uk (for library members), the Scran collection of photographs, and the Statistical Accounts for Scotland.

Library staff will assist with research where they can, but it is not possible for them to carry out extensive or open-ended research on behalf of readers.

You can download  lists of newspapers, directories, and valuation rolls held by Fife Council libraries.

Local and Family History Material held includes:

• International Genealogical Index (Scotland, England & Ireland)
• Index to the Christenings & Marriages in the Old Parish Registers (all counties in Scotland)
• Old Parish Registers (microfilm) for all parishes in Fife
• Census Returns 1841 - 1901 (microfilm) for all parishes in Fife
• 1891 census - name index for all counties in Scotland

Monumental Inscriptions & Burial Records:

• The gravestones of St Bridget's Kirk, Dalgety
• Churchyard Memorials of Crail
• Auchtermuchty Monumental Inscriptions
• Collection of epitaphs & monumental inscriptions chiefly in Scotland
• Volumes of transcribed & indexed pre-1855 inscriptions for East Fife & West Fife
• Fife Deaths 1822-1854 (from newspapers)
• Fife Deaths Abroad 1855-1900 (from newspapers)
• Auchtermuchty Deaths 1701-1851
• Dysart Barony burials 1825 - 1861
• Dysart St Denis interments 1795 - 1861
• Markinch burials 1799 - 1854
• Pathhead Feuars Lair Register 1714 - 1960
• Sinclairtown Feuars Lair Register 1765 - 1863

Directories, almanacs, registers, etc.:

• View of the political state of Scotland in the last century (Adam, 1887)
• Burntisland Directory 1892
• Edinburgh Almanac - various years 1809 - 1879
• List of registered voters in Fife 1832
• Fife & Kinross Register - various years 1825 - 1871
• Fife & Kinross Trades Directory - various years 1908 -1966
• Directory to gentlemen's seats 1843
• County directory of Scotland 1862
• Kinghorn electoral rolls - various years 1832 - 1892
• Kirkcaldy Directory (some years include Dysart) - various years 1882 - 1936
• Kirkcaldy Trades Directory 1968
• Pamphlets concerning Fife 1828 - 1843
• Pigot's Directory of Scotland 1825, 1837
• Register for the burgh of Leslie 1915
• Thomson's Directory of Kirkcaldy 1834, 1835
• Westwood's Directory of Fife 1862, 1866

Valuation Rolls

• Buckhaven & Methil burghs 1966 - 1967
• Burntisland burgh - various years 1896 - 1968
• Fife County, Cupar district 1887 - 1888
• Fife County, Glenrothes district 1961 - 1966
• Fife County, Kirkcaldy & Dunfermline districts - various years 1893 - 1933
• Fife County, Kirkcaldy & Wemyss districts 1947 - 1961
• Fife County, Kirkcaldy, Lochgelly, Wemyss & Dunfermline districts 1933 - 1947
• Fife County, Wemyss district 1961 - 1967
• Kinghorn burgh 1961 - 1967
• Kirkcaldy burgh (later volumes include Dysart) 1927 - 1975
• Kirkcaldy district - various years 1975 - 1989
• Kirkcaldy parish 1890 - 1891
• Leslie burgh 1963 - 1966
• Leven burgh 1964 - 1967
• Markinch burgh 1963 - 1967

Newspapers, etc

• Fife Free Press 1871 - date
• Fifeshire Advertiser 1845 - 1965
• Index to the Fifeshire Advertiser 1845 - 1865
• Leven Advertiser, Buckhaven & Methil News 1897 - 1939
• Fife News Almanac - various years 1895 - 1932
• list of newspapers in Fife libraries

Military

• Black Watch (the dinna forget book)
• Black Watch (Officers 1725 - 1952)
• History of the 42nd Royal Highlanders (First Batallion Black Watch) 1729 - 1793
• Muster roll of the manse, 1914 - 1919
• The Fifes in South Africa (Fife & Forfar Yeomanry in South Africa 1900-1901)
• Home Guard 2nd Fife Battalion, historical review, 1944
• Home Guard 6th Fife Battalion, records, 1944
• Home Guard 7th Fife Battalion, survey, 1944
• Kirkcaldy & district roll of heroes (South Africa, 1901)
• Kirkcaldy & district war album, 1915 - 1916
• Kirkcaldy War Memorial - opening ceremony, 1925
• History of the 6th Battalion Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) 1939 - 1945
• The Fife & Forfar Yeomanry, 1921
• Roll of Honour, Dunfermline High School 1914 - 1919
• The Fife & Forfar Yeomanry 1919 - 1956
• A History of the Fife Light Horse, 1892
• A narrative of the Royal Scottish Volunteer Review in Holyrood Park, 7th August 1860

Criminality

• Collection & abridgement of celebrated criminal trials in Scotland 1536 - 1784
• The Sheriff Court Book of Fife 1515 - 1522
• The Scots Black Kalendar (record of criminal trials & executions in Scotland 1800 - 1900)

Trades, Crafts, Companies, Occupations

• Scottish engravers (Bushnell)
• Bookselling, printing & newspaper publishing in Fife during the 18th & 19th centuries (Campbell)
• Fife Shopkeepers & Traders (Campbell)
• Dunfermline clockmakers up to 1900
• Wrights Incorporation's Benefit Society, Kirkcaldy
• Incorporated Trades & Crafts of Burntisland - minute book 1685 - 1835
• Barry's Magazine & Barry's Newsletter - various years 1927 - 1954
• Rothmill Quarterly Magazine (Tullis Russell & Co Ltd) 1933 onwards
• The Mariners of Kirkcaldy & West Fife 1600 - 1700 (Dobson)
• The Mariners of St Andrews & the East Neuk of Fife 1600 - 1700 (Dobson)

Topography

• Descriptive ... gazeteer of ... Fife, Kinross & Clackmannan .... (Barbieri, 1857)
• Gazeteer of Scotland (Chambers, 1832)
• Topographical Description of the middle division of Scotland ... [includes Fife & Kinross] (Cooke, 1800)
• Abridged statistical History of Scotland... arranged parochially (Dawson, 1853 and 1857)
• Enumeration of the inhabitants of Scotland...1801, 1811, 1821 [statistical information only]
• Gazeteer of Scotland (Lawson, 1841)
• The place names of Fife & Kinross (Liddall, 1896)
• Statistical Account of Scotland (Sinclair, 1791-1799)
• Account of Scotland (1845)
• Third Statistical Account of Scotland - county of Fife (1952)
• Scotland delineated (1799)
• Reports of the boundaries of the several cities, burghs, towns in Scotland (1832)
• Return of Owners of Land, Scotland (1874)
• General view of the agriculture of the county of Fife (Thomson, 1800)
• Ordnance Survey Object Name Books 1850-1854. Links to the indexes here.

Family Histories & Biographies

• The peerage of Scotland (Crawfurd, 1716)
• The peerage of Scotland (Douglas, 1764)
• Our Scots noble families (Johnston, 1917)
• Eminent men of Fife (Conolly, 1866)
• Scottish family History (Stuart)
• Scottish family histories (Ferguson)
• Distinguished men of the county of Kinross (Tod)
• Balfour-Melville (of Pilrig & Strathkinness)
• Beveridge
• Boog-Watson
• Brown (of Fordell, Finmount & Vicarsgrange)
• Carstairs ( of Balwearie)
• Dawson (of Kirkcaldy & Dysart)
• Galloway (or Dunkeld & Perth)
• Geddie & McPhail
• Gourlay
• Halkett (of Pitfirrane)
• Hunter (of the Hunter Hospital, Kirkcaldy)
• Richard Kennoway & his friends
• Kinloch
• John Lamont of Newton
• Leslie family
• Lindsay
• MacMillan
• McNaughton
• George & Jane Meldrum
• Earls of Melville & Leslies, Earls of Leven
• James N Miller & sons, boatbuilders
• Nairn
• Noel-Paton
• Philip of Kirkcaldy
• Pitcairn
• Ruskin
• Tod
• Tosh
• Wardlaw
• Wemyss
• Whyte (of Bennochy)
• Famous Fifers (Wood)
•  

Publications concerning Fife

• Bibliography of works relating to Dunfermline (Erskine Beveridge, 1901)
• Fifiana - memorials of East Fife (Conolly, 1869)
• Index to particular register of Sasines - Fife: 1617 - 1660
• Pre-reformation churches in Fifeshire (Russell, 1895)
• Kinghorn: a tour by Tom, Dick & Harry (1863)
• Kirkcaldy burgh and schyre (1924)
• The Linktown of Abbotshall (1951)
• Davidson's illustrated guide to Kirkcaldy & neighbourhood (1903)
• Library book of the Free Church of Kirkcaldy 1845 - 1855
• Gallatown Mutual Improvement association 1863 - 1913
• Extracts from ancient records of the burgh of Dysart 1533 - 1763
• Extracts from Kinghorn Kirk Session minutes 1581 - 1659
• Kirkcaldy District Council diaries 1975 onwards
• Kirkcaldy Town Council diaries - various years 1936 - 1974
• Charter to the burgh of Leslie 1627
• Notes on parliamentary representatives of Kirkcaldy, Dysart, Burntisland & Kinghorn (1956, 1970)
• Kirkcaldy Burgh Liberal Unionist Association - minutes & press cuttings 1891 - 1892
• The Kirkcaldy burgh records (MacBean, 1908)
• The Congregational Church in Kirkcaldy & ... Fife from their beginnings to 1850 (McNaughton, 1989)
• History of the Masonic Lodge of Kirkcaldie 1658 - 1957
• Gleanings from the records of Dysart 1545 - 1796
• The village register of East Wemyss 1817
• Pathhead Burns Association - minutes 1826 - 1828
• Title deeds in Abbotshall Cemetery in favour of D Henderson
• Kirkcaldy Miscellanea (births, marriages & deaths 1855 - 1877)
• Culross and Tulliallan (Beveridge, 1885)
• The burgh records of Dunfermline 1488 - 1584 (Beveridge, 1917)
• Dunfermline Social Societies Magazine 1928
• Regality of Dunfermline Court Book 1531 - 1538
• Reminiscences of Dollar, Tillicoultry & other districts adjoining the Ochils
• Dunfermline evidence to the select committee [of Parliament] concerning the town's affairs 1788 - 1818
• Extracts from Dunfermline Kirk Session 1640 - 1689
• Extracts from Dunfermline burgh records in 16th & 17th centuries
• History of Inverkeithing & Rosyth (Stephen, 1921)
• The Story of Inverkeithing & Rosyth (Stephen, 1938)
• Dunfermline abbey
• History of Carnock (Webster, 1938)
• Freemasonry in Lochgelly, Lodge Minto 1858 - 1958
• When we were boys: The Dunfermline Journal 1911
• Early records of St Andrews University 1413 - 1579
• Matriculation roll of St Andrews University 1747 - 1897
• Wrecks & reminiscences of St Andrews Bay (1884)
• Annals of Pittenweem 1526 - 1793 (Cook, 1867)
• Annals of Colinsburgh with notes on church life in Kilconquhar parish (Dick, 1896)
• Historical notes concerning the Links of St Andrews 1552 - 1893
• Anstruther: or illustrations of Scottish burgh life (Gourlay, 1888)
• Fisher Life: memorials of Cellardyke and the Fife coast (Gourlay, 1879)
• More about Monimail (McCraw, 1982)
• Anstruther (Stevenson, 1989)
• Kilrenny & Cellardyke: 800 years of History (Watson, 1986)
• The East Neuk of Fife: its History & antiquities (Wood, 1887)

General Works including:

• The Surnames of Scotland (Black)
• Dictionary of National Biography
• Dictionary of genealogical sources in the Public Record Office (Colwell)
• Debrett's peerage & baronetage
• Fasti of the United Free Church of Scotland 1900 - 1929
• Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae 1915, 1950, 1961,1981
• Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638
• Members of Parliament, Scotland (1882)
• Scottish catholic secular clergy 1879 - 1989
• Scottish Population statistics (includes Webster's analysis 1755) (1975)
• The Scottish Congregational Ministry 1794 - 1993 (McNaughton)
• Family histories in Scottish customs records
• Who Was Who 1897 - 1990
• several dictionaries & lists of Scots emigrants by Dobson & Whyte
• several published bibliographies concerning Scotland & Fife