Thirteen files of typed and manuscript material relating to construction projects (including Aberdeen Harbour) by the Scottish civil engineer John Gibb, deputy to Thomas Telford, compiled by his great-grandson Sir Alexander Gibb.

Thirteen files, on the following works by John Gibb: Kelvin Aqueduct; Broomielaw Bridge; Cullen Harbour; Boat O'Brig Bridge; Bonar Bridge; Cartlands Crag Bridge; Almond Viaduct; Northern Lighthouses; Victoria Railway Bridge over the River Wear; Stonehaven Harbour; Aberdeen Harbour; Don Bridge. (The final file concerns 'Gibb Portraits'.) In excess of 200 items (many several pages long) arranged in thirteen files, consisting of correspondence (mainly 4to), extracts and cuttings, in a contemporary 4to ring binder, with a typed label on the spine only listing twelve of the thirteen files contained within. In good condition, on aged paper, with all items clear and complete. The files (numbered 31/3-31/9, 31/11-31/14, 31/17) all have their own identification pages, giving the date range of the items contained within. John Gibb is a surprising omission from the Oxford DNB, barely mentioned in the entry of his great-grandson Sir Alexander Gibb (author of a life of Telford and other works), by whom the present collection was assembled. Sir Alexander Gibb's reason for amassing these files, as explained in a copy of a letter from A. Cruickshank to the Town Clerk at Lanark (10 October 1930), was that he was 'very much interested in preparing a history of his ancestor.' As Sir Alexander's intended biography of his ancestor was not published, for the facts of John Gibb's life we must turn to his entry in Skempton's 'Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland' (2002), which also contains a useful list of his works. While employed by Brocket under John Rennie senior, Gibb caught Telford's eye, and was put to work by him on the reconstruction of Aberdeen Harbour, under the title of Permanent Superintendent of the Harbour Works. Two of his greatest achievements were Telford's Broomielaw (or Jamaica Street) Bridge in Glasgow (1833-1836) and the Almond Valley Viaduct on the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway (completed 1842). The greater part of the material contained in the folders consists of correspondence in response to enquiries made by Gibb's personal assistant Hugh Beaver (see his entry in Oxford DNB), together with initialed copies of Beaver's letters. A large part of this consists of an informative correspondence between Beaver and William Tawse, Public Works Contractor of Aberdeen. A letter to Tawse from Cruickshank (22 October 1930) is accompanied by two pages of simple pencil illustrations relating to the Cartland Bridge, Lanark. A small file contains a letter from the Secretary, Northern Lighthouse Board, gives details of Gibb's contract for three lighthouse stations. The collection also contains a number of typed extracts from contemporary material, the most substantial (4to, vi + 80 pp) being taken from the scarce (COPAC only lists copies at the National Library of Scotland and Aberdeen) volume 'Aberdeen Harbour. Evidence and Proceedings, in the Committee of the House of Commons, in regard to the Aberdeen Harbour Bill. Printed and Circulated by order of the Harbour Trustees. MXCCXXXIX. | Aberdeen: Printed at the Constitutional Office, by Geo. Cornwall. 1839.' Also included is a typed copy of the 'Specification of the proposed Catch Pier for Cullen Harbour' (folio, 2 pp). The file on Broomielaw Bridge contains a letter from Beaver to Robert Bain of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow (24 June 1929), explaining that 'Mr. Watson Charlton, an artist, is undertaking for us to make sketches of several works for which the Gibb family were responsible in and around Glasgow'. Bain provides a typed 'List of Views of the Broomielaw Bridge' (4to, 1 p). Also present are two autograph letters from Charlton on the same topic. Tawse compiles a valuable typed index (4to, 2 pp), headed 'Extracts from Elgin Courier [1829-1838] re erection of bridges over the River Spey at Orton and Fochabers and over the Findhorn at Forres'. The final file contains material relating to the restoration for Sir Alexander of a painting of John Gibb. The collection also includes a small collection of newspaper cuttings, neatly laid down.