Bicycles - Ref: WC0995
This photograph by the Dundee-based amateur cameraman, Alexander Wilson, was most likely taken inside the Albert Institute, as the McManus Galleries were then known, so the bicycles were already old-fashioned - for one thing, there are no tyres.
Cycling was an extremely popular means of transport (and form of recreation and sport) in Dundee at the turn of the century. The Piper O' Dundee of 3 May 1893, for example, has details of a competition, and portraits of Dundee C.C.'s committee.
An advertising sheet on the reverse of the free maps issued with each weekly copy includes no less than five cycle shops Salmond in Arbroath Road, Martin in Victoria Road, Robertson in Albert Square, Skinner in Tally Street and Robertson in Bell Street.
Alexander Wilson who took this photograph, was a supervisor in a Dundee jute mill for over 20 years. He bequeathed much of his collection and £50, to cover the costs involved, to the Free Library Committee of Dundee in 1923.