Chair in History
- About
-
- Email Address
- m.harper@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 274473
- Office Address
School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
Crombie Annexe
Meston Walk
King's College
University of Aberdeen
Old Aberdeen
AB24 3FX
Room 211- School/Department
- School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History
Biography
Marjory Harper completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Aberdeen, where she has been employed since the mid-1980s. She is currently Professor of History and also a Visiting Professor at the Centre for History, University of the Highlands and Islands.
Marjory's research focuses on British (particularly Scottish) emigration since 1800. Two of her monographs have won international prizes, and she has published around 100 articles and book chapters. Her latest monograph, Testimonies of Transition (an oral history of twentieth-century Scottish emigration) was published in 2018, and a revised version was published as an audio book in 2020.
After three decades of teaching in a variety of undergraduate courses, Marjory's teaching activities now focus on the postgraduate sector. Since 2017 she has directed an award-winning online Master’s Programme in Scottish Heritage and she has also been involved in developing a training programme for the Scottish Tourist Guides' Association.
Public engagement lies at the heart of Marjory's interests and she particularly enjoys engaging with local communities through public lectures. She also acted as one of three historical consultants to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and contributes regularly to radio and television programmes such as Digging Up Your Roots and Who Do You Think You Are?
Qualifications
- MA History1978 - University of Aberdeen
- PhD History1984 - University of Aberdeen
External Memberships
Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Rutherford Centre for Reformed Theology.
Latest Publications
Diet and the Diaspora
Presses universitaires de Franche-ComtéBooks and Reports: BooksEpistolary Exploits and Audible Adventures: Using Personal Testimony to Plot Patterns and Policies in Scottish-Australian Migration
Northern Scotland, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 149-169Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/nor.2023.0295
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Expectations, experiences and enigmas: hearing and evaluating emigrant testimony
Oral History, vol. 51, no. 2Contributions to Journals: Articles"I wish you would write oftender": An Aberdeenshire emigrant's experiences in 19th-century Canada
Festschrift for Elizabeth Ewan. University of Guelph Centre for Scottish StudiesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersIdentifying a Doric diaspora?: Patterns of emigration from north-east Scotland, c. 1750 - c. 1950
A New History of the University of Aberdeen. Aberdeen University PressChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/15750/
Prizes and Awards
2020: Winner of the Royal Historical Society's Jinty Nelson Award for Inspirational Teaching and Supervision
2019: University of Aberdeen Excellence Awards: Public Engagement with Research Award, main prize
2018: University of Aberdeen Postgraduate Teaching Prize
2013: Winner of the Frank Watson Prize (University of Guelph, Canada) and short-listed for the Saltire Society History Prize
2004: Winner of the Saltire Society History Prize and short-listed for the Frank Watson Prize
1992: Winner of Blackwell Prize
- Research
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Research Overview
Professor Harper's research is primarily in the area of Scottish emigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly to Canada
Current Research
Preparation of monograph on emigration from the Northern Isles since the eighteenth century
Ongoing collection of interviews for interview databank and use in forthcoming monographs and articles
Preparation of monograph on Scots in the Antipodes
Past Research
Several monographs, edited collections, book chapters and over 100 articles. Recent research strands have included migration and mental health, in particular Marjory Harper (ed.) Migration and Mental Health: Past and Present (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and migration and oral testimony (monograph published in 2018 and audio book in 2020)
Audio book
Marjory Harper, Testimonies of Transition: Voices from the Scottish Diaspora (Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2018, audio book, 2020) based on databank of over 120 interviews (ongoing project)
Knowledge Exchange
Interface research project on the Iolaire disaster, under auspices of the UHI Centre for History. Included interview about the project with BBC Alba
Lecture to Stornoway Historical Society in connection with the centenary of the sailing of the Metagama in April 1923, and making available material from the Scottish Emigration Database for use as part of centenary exhibition
Guest lectures for Cunard on the Queen Mary from Southampton to New York
Article on British migration for British Library Learning Digital Resource 'Discovering History'
Participation in video 'Journey to New Edinburgh' for the Otago Early Settlers' Museum
Numerous public lectures since the lifting of Covid restrictions, including lecture for Greyhope Bay Community Programme (Aberdeen) which led to a podcast for 'Aberdeen Harbour Voices' https://www.openroadltd.com/projects/harbour-voices/#:~:text=Harbour%20Voices%20is%20a%20series,harbour%20area%20of%20Aberdeen%20home.
Invited to Albyn School, Aberdeen, to lecture to Higher pupils
July 2023: hosting a panel discussion at Ullapool Museum on the 250th anniversary of the sailing of the ship Hector from Lochbroom to Nova Scotia
Continuing involvement with the Scottish American History Forum (Chicago) including online talks
2022: participation as interviewee for BBC TV episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
Collaborations
Collaboration with Dr Lauren Brancaz-McCarten, University of Chambery, on Celtic migrations
Collaboration with Ian Leith (Caithness) on migration and mental illness in Patagonia
Collaboration with Dr Iain Robertson, UHI Centre for History, in Knowledge Exchange Project on Lewis in the inter-war era
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
HI502W A Millennium of Scottish History
HI502X: Approaches to Research - Archives and Sources
HI552T: The Scottish Diaspora
HI553E/HI5916: Dissertation in Scottish Heritage
HI2524: Scottish History: Chronologies and Controversies
Non-course Teaching Responsibilities
Numerous guest lectures in Scotland and overseas
Invited lecturer at Summer School run by the German Historical Institute, London, July 2023
- Publications
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Diet and the Diaspora
Presses universitaires de Franche-ComtéBooks and Reports: BooksEpistolary Exploits and Audible Adventures: Using Personal Testimony to Plot Patterns and Policies in Scottish-Australian Migration
Northern Scotland, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 149-169Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/nor.2023.0295
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Expectations, experiences and enigmas: hearing and evaluating emigrant testimony
Oral History, vol. 51, no. 2Contributions to Journals: Articles"I wish you would write oftender": An Aberdeenshire emigrant's experiences in 19th-century Canada
Festschrift for Elizabeth Ewan. University of Guelph Centre for Scottish StudiesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersIdentifying a Doric diaspora?: Patterns of emigration from north-east Scotland, c. 1750 - c. 1950
A New History of the University of Aberdeen. Aberdeen University PressChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/15750/
Spiritual homes on the move: narratives of migrations from Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries
Social and Cultural Geography, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 1135-1154Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2021.1907856
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Abroad was where it all happened: Inter-war and Post-war Sponsored Migration to the Commonwealth
Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 317-347Contributions to Journals: ArticlesTestimonies of Transition: Voices from the Scottish Diaspora
Audible BooksBooks and Reports: BooksA Controversial Scottish Pioneer in New Zealand: James MacAndrew and the identity of Otago
Bridging Boundaries in British Migration History: In Memoriam Eric Richards. Ruiz, M. (ed.). Anthem Press, pp. 141-158, 18 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersRhetoric and reality: the quest for "freedom" in the Scottish diaspora
Scotland and Arbroath 1320 – 2020: 700 Years of Fighting for Freedom, Sovereignty, and Independence. Muller, K. P. (ed.). Peter Lang, pp. 201-227, 27 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/b16812