The £47 million refurbishment of Dundee College”s Gardyne campus resulted in an unexpected find when the contractors uncovered a cache of old editions of The Courier.
Having just reopened a basement during the work, Bovis Lend Lease employee Gary Soutar discovered about 65 bound volumes of The Courier dating back to 1929.
“For safety reasons access to the level-A basement was only made possible again recently, and the volumes were discovered in a small store,” said college estate development manager Derek Marshall.
“Each volume covers a three-month period. The earliest is from 1929, the latest being 1968, which is a bit bizarre as that still predates the Gardyne building.”
This adds to the mystery of why the former teacher training college had such an extensive archive of The Courier.
In the meantime, recognising that a building site is no place for such a collection, Derek is looking for a good home for the volumes.
He said although the newspapers seem to be in pristine condition they are currently stored in a portable building and probably would not survive long.
The Couriers must have been placed in the basement some time after the former Dundee College of Education opened at Gardyne Road in 1972.
The transformation of Gardyne Campus into a modern building fit for use by Dundee College in the 21st century should be complete by mid April next year, in time for the student intake in September.
The project was supported by the Scottish Funding Council to the tune of £28.9m.