Edinburgh's local history society
The Old Edinburgh Club is the city’s local history society, concerned with all aspects of the capital’s history and development.
For more than one hundred years we have encouraged interest through lectures, visits, our journal – the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club – and projects. Join us and take advantage of these and other activities, exploring Edinburgh through history.
Our Publications
We publish the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, renowned as an authoritative source for residents, researchers alike or, indeed, anyone who shares our delight in the city’s rich heritage. The latest edition – Volume 20was published in March 2025 and has been sent to our members.
Earlier editions from 1908 are available to download, and we recently added volumes up to 2019.
Please browse our Bibliography of Edinburgh History too – it’s an essential starting point for exploring your interests.
Lectures & Visits
We hold our events in the Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL, with live streaming for anyone who cannot be there in person.
All talks start at 7pm. Non-members may attend or view each event on request. Please contact events@oldedinburghclub.org.uk.
Links to details of individual events will appear under the programme set out below.
Please note that the Magic and Illusion talk is now fully booked.
So what’s Scottish about Edinburgh architecture?
East Jersey Bound: From Scotland to America in the 1680s
Heriot’s at 400
Members’ Evening 2025
Chrystal Macmillan: Equal Rights for Women in Edinburgh and Beyond
Magic and Illusion in Edinburgh
News & Views
What’s new in the world of the Old Edinburgh Club: events, publications, projects and our blog.
We will be holding our 118th Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, 17th September at 7pm at the City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh.
Catch up with past OEC talks The OEC has released videos of lectures from our autumn and winter programme of 2024/25. These are publicly available
By: Alison Macdonald
Jill Harrison announces a new Exhibition and outreach programme Museum of Edinburgh, from Capital Collections, image by Claire Paget 2024. The Reviving the Trinity Stones
By: Elaine Howie & Alison Macdonald
Veteran Housing Scotland (VHS) has completed its research and published its history, ‘Veterans Housing Scotland – Celebrating 110 Years . This has been funded by
Explore our website
We hope our website will help you to explore the fascinating past of Scotland’s capital.
For more on Edinburgh’s rich history, explore our detailed resource of useful websites and links to local history and heritage organisations. We also have an archive of our own News & Views.
Follow us on social media
Follow us to find out even more about our activities and about the history of Edinburgh, including our popular ‘On This Day’ feature on Facebook. Click on the icons in the footer for Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram and X (Twitter). You can also visit the OEC YouTube channel which hosts lectures from previous years.