A collection of printed material formerly forming part of the Castle Menzies estate legal and family documents. The greater part of the collection (of 30 items) consists of public documents, both local and national, in the form of bills, petitions, acts and reports. A substantial portion relate to the construction and maintenance of roads in Perthshire and also in the north of Scotland during the early 19th century, including a representation by a committee in Inverness-shire for improved mail connections between Perth and Inverness. Other public documents relate to the act for the first national population census in 1801. There are other documents relating to various concerns of local administration such as police, local defence amenities and more general matters like the application of entail and the regulation of asylums. Also present are publications from bodies of inhabitants hostile to pressure for parliamentary reform. Material of quite a different and ephemeral nature in the collection includes booklets with short histories of the Menzies clan and advertising publicity for several late 19th century concerts at Scottish locations.

Organisation

The books have been catalogued individually and have the shelfmark 'C.Menzies.'.

Acquisition

The collection was purchased by the Library in 1965 as part of a purchase of manuscript material relating to Castle Menzies.

Related collections

The manuscripts are held at MS.9971.