Midlothian archives
Black Family
Name of Creator
The Black family of Penicuik
Administrative and biographical history
The Black Collection is a remarkable record about the town of Penicuik and surrounding area from c.1880 to c.1930. The collection is named after James Black and his son Robert, who assembled a huge amount of material about Penicuik. The collection includes research and lecture notes, newspaper cuttings, notebooks, postcards, photograph albums, and other items.
James Livingstone Black was born in Airdrie in April 1841, the thirteenth child of Robert Black of Fife. He served his apprenticeship for Thomas Nelson & Sons, the Edinburgh publishing house. In 1867, he moved to Penicuik where he ran a newsagent’s shop and circulating library in Bridge Street. He worked at Valleyfield paper-mill for over forty years and wrote stories and reports for local newspapers. Politically, he was a committed Liberal and supported William Gladstone during the famous Midlothian Campaign in the 1880s. He was a member of the Penicuik Lodge of Free Gardeners and Penicuik United Free Church. He loved the countryside around Penicuik and was an authority on local history and legend. In his eighties, he wrote Penicuik and Neighbourhood: Old Stories Retold. James Black died in June 1925 and is buried in Penicuik Churchyard.
Robert E. Black was the eldest son of James Black. He was a native of Penicuik and spent all his working life at Valleyfield paper-mill. Like his father, he was a member of the Penicuik Lodge of Free Gardeners, the Penicuik Rifle Brigade, and the Freemasons. Robert Black was a highly respected member of the local community. A kind and unassuming man who was always curious and eager to learn, he was an expert on the history of Penicuik. He collected a huge archive of material on the local area. One obituary stated: ‘It is hardly possible to conceive that, even in a lifetime, any man could glean, compile and store such vast information as Mr Black had.’
Scope and content
The bulk of the collection is a series of 151 scrapbooks about life in Penicuik and the surrounding area. Each scrapbook covers a particular subject such as local industries, sports, clubs and societies, and biographies of Penicuik people. There are also 19 notebooks on the history of Glencorse parish; 4 notebooks on French prisoners of war in Penicuik; a notebook of games, rhymes and sayings of Penicuik children in the 1880s; 2 volumes about Penicuik and Glencorse in the First World War, including a Roll of Honour for Penicuik; an album of photographs showing the interior of Alex Cowans and Sons, Valleyfield paper-mills, Penicuik; and a bound volume of Penicuik parish church magazine 1887–1908.
An additional part of the collection was received in 1989. This consists of papers, newspaper cuttings and photographs relaying to Valleyfield Paper Mills, Penicuik, and to the Thistle Lodge of Free Gardeners’ Friendly Society, Penicuik. There are also research and lecture notes, articles in manuscript and typescript, and miscellaneous papers including the minute book of the Cowan Institute Literary Society 1903–7.
Archival history
In the 1970s, the collection was gifted to Penicuik Public Library by James Black’s grandson William. An additional part of the collection was received from William Black on 6 November 1989.
System of arrangement
| Reference | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|
| BLA/1 | Notebooks on the history of Glencorse parish and the Penicuik area | c.1925 |
| BLA/2 | Notebooks on French prisoners of war, locally and in Perth 1804–14. | 1928–29 |
| BLA/3 | 'Tis Forty Years Ago': Games, Rhymes and Sayings of Penicuik Children. | 1922 |
| BLA/4 | Roll of Honour for Penicuik and Glencorse during the Great War 1914–19 and after. | c.1919 |
| BLA/5 | Unallocated. | |
| BLA/6 | Album of photographs, interior of Alex Cowan and Sons Ltd, Valleyfield paper-mills. | 1937 |
| BLA/7 | Church of Penicuik Parish magazine. | 1887–1908 |
| BLA/8 | Unallocated. | |
| BLA/9 | Scrapbooks of newspaper cuttings on Penicuik and the surrounding area. | 1883–1925 |
| BLA/10 | Misc. items on the history of Penicuik, local people and families, local clubs, and societies, etc. | Undated |
| BLA/11 | Misc. items on Glencorse, Nine-Mile Burn, Silverburn and Carlops. | 1929–1980 |
| BLA/12 | Misc. items on paper making in Penicuik. | Undated |
| BLA/13 | Newspaper cuttings, papers, etc. relating to the Thistle Lodge of the Free Gardeners' Friendly Society, Penicuik. | 1909–1964 |
| BLA/14 | Photographs: Boys' Brigade and Thistle Lodge Free Gardeners, Penicuik. | 1897–1921 |
| BLA/15 | Misc. items on Valleyfield Mills, Penicuik, and the Cowan family. | 1903–1966 |
| BLA/16 | Letters on Valleyfield Mills, Penicuik, and the Cowan family. | 1839–1954 |
| BLA/17 | Misc. items. | 1914–1951 |
Access
There are no restrictions on access to the collection.
Conditions governing use
None.
Related materials
Midlothian Local Studies holds a file of newspaper cuttings about the Black family.