Dumbarton Library in Strathleven Place is home to Dumbarton Heritage Centre, where Local History and Archive material can be consulted.
Our building
Dumbarton Library, Strathleven Place, Dumbarton G82 1B
Clydebank Museum, Clydebank Library, Dumbarton Road, Clydebank, G81 1XH (official opening 15th August 2025, VJ day)
Opening Hours: Dumbarton: Monday to Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm, except Tuesday 1.30pm – 4.30pm; Clydebank: Monday to Friday 9.30am – 5.00pm, except Thursday 9.30am – 7.00pm, Saturday 10.00am – 1.00 pm.
Lift available
What you’ll find
The Heritage Centre within Dumbarton Library provides a drop-in service for Local History material. Archives material can be viewed by appointment.
What we collect:
We hold the records from West Dunbartonshire Council and its predecessor authorities.
This area covers large industrial towns such as Clydebank and Dumbarton, both with strong shipbuilding heritage, and the towns of the Vale of Leven with its printworks and textile dyeing industries. Dumbarton’s glass industry in the 19th Century was at the time the most influential glassworks in Britain. Clydebank is also well-known for the Singer Manufacturing Company, which made sewing machines – our collection of sewing machines and the associated archive are ‘Recognised as a Nationally Significant Collection’.
Our local authority holdings include records such as charters regarding the creation of the Royal Burgh of Dumbarton, council meeting minutes, school admission registers, police and court records, financial records and Dean of Guild drawings pertaining to building planning applications.
We also hold a wide range of church records, including baptism, marriage and burial registers, plus poor law registers, many of which have recently been digitised and made available on Ancestry.
We hold records pertaining to many local companies such as Singer, Polaroid, Dixon’s Glassworks, and John Brown and Denny shipbuilders, plus many smaller companies. Also held are records from local sporting organisations, other local clubs, and incorporations and associations, plus papers of prominent local figures and families.
Most unusual item:
One item which is an unexpected find in the archives is a record of Denny Brothers employees at the time of the golden jubilee of their engine works in 1901. This record is beautifully illustrated and lists employees by department. It is unusual both to find a note of employees, as these don’t often exist in collections of business records, but also for it to be illustrated in such a way.
GDD84/1/1/2 Denny and Co. Jubilee. Record of employees in the company.
Staff
Jennifer Lightbody, Archivist at West Dunbartonshire Council
Return to the Spotlight homepage here.