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
Obstacles and opportunities: labour emigration to the ‘British World’ in the nineteenth century
Continuity and Change, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 43-62Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416019000079
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/12049/1/Labour_migration_Accepted_Manuscript.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
- [ONLINE] View publication in Mendeley
Testimonies of Transition: Voices from the Scottish Diaspora
Luath Press, Edinburgh. 264 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksScotland and Prince Edward Island: A Professional and Personal Insight
The Island MagazineContributions to Journals: ArticlesMigration and Health Webinar Two: Mental health of refugees and migrants: myths and realities
Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites‘Quite destitute and … very desirous of going to North America’: The Roots and Repercussions of Emigration from Sutherland and Caithness
Northern Scotland, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 49-67Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMoving Out and Moving On? Emigration from Scotland to Australia in the Twentieth Century
Emigrants and Historians: Essays in Honour of Eric Richards. Payton, P. (ed.). Wakefield Press, pp. 58-76, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersHomecoming Emigrants as Tourists: Reconnecting the Scottish Diaspora
Tourism and Memories of Home: Migrants, Displaced People, Exiles and Diasporic Communities. Marschall, S. (ed.). Channel view publications, pp. 32-52, 20 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersMigration and Mental Illness
The Psychologist, vol. 30, pp. 76-79Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMissing Emigrants: Gleanings from Petitions Presented under the Presumption of Life Limitation (Scotland) Acts
Scottish Archives, vol. 22, pp. 17-38Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMigration and Mental Health: Past and Present
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. 289 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52968-8
Ethnicities and Environments: Perceptions of Alienation and Mental Illness Among Scottish and Scandinavian Settlers in North America, c. 1870–c. 1914
Migration and Mental Health: Past and Present. Harper, M. (ed.). Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 105-127, 23 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52968-8_6
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Introduction: Migration and Mental Health
Migration and Mental Health: Past and Present. Harper, M. (ed.). Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 3-20, 18 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52968-8_1
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Is Migration Good For You? A Psychiatric and Historical Perspective
Migration and Mental Health: Past and Present. Harper, M. (ed.). Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 239-258, 20 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52968-8_12
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
The evolution of emigrant travel to New Zealand in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Journal for Maritime Research, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 17-35Contributions to Journals: ArticlesInitiatives, impediments and identities: Scottish emigration in the twentieth century
Scotland, Empire and Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century. Glass, B., MacKenzie, J. M. (eds.). Manchester University Press, pp. 25-43, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersA vicious and soulless propaganda: Dr Lachlan Grant and emigration
Dr Lachlan Grant of Ballachulish, 1871–1945. Tindley, A., Cameron, E. A. (eds.). BirlinnChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersDysfunctional diasporas?: Migration and mental illness
Wellcome History, vol. 54Contributions to Specialist Publications: ArticlesMinds on the Edge: Immigration and Insanity among Scots and Irish in Canada, 1867-1914
Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 56-79Contributions to Journals: ArticlesA dysfunctional diaspora?: Causes of mental illness among Scottish emigrants to Canada, 1867-1914
Neurosciences and History, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 8-14Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMigrants and Migration
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and Dictionaries- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118455074
"Come to Corby": a Scottish steel town in the heart of England
Immigrants & Minorities, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 27-47Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02619288.2012.746817
Arctic encounters: twentieth-century Scots in the Hudson's Bay Company
Irish and Scots Encounters with Indigenous People. Morton, G., Wilson, D. A. (eds.). McGill-Queen's University Press, 18 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe land struggle and emigration
Recovering from the Clearances: Land Struggle, Re-settlement, and Community Land Ownership in the Hebrides. Cameron, E. A. (ed.). The Islands Book Trust, 21 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersScotland No More?: The Scots who left Scotland in the twentieth century
Luath Press, Edinburgh. 224 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksEmigrant homecomings: The return movement of emigrants, 1600-2000
Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK. 288 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526119643
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Migration and empire
Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. 380 pagesBooks and Reports: Books'Missions and emigration/colonization'
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Entries for Encyclopedias and Dictionaries- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511780165
The persuaders: recruiting Scots for New Zealand
History Scotland, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 15Contributions to Journals: ArticlesArctic Encounters: Scots in the Hudson's Bay Company
Contributions to Conferences: PapersIntroduction to new series
Northern Scotland, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-2Contributions to Journals: ArticlesRhetoric and reality: British migration to Canada, 1867-1967
Canada and the British Empire. Buckner, P. (ed.). Oxford University Press, pp. 160-180, 21 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersSocio-economic Dislocation and Inter-war Emigration to Canada and the United States: a Scottish Snapshot
Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 529-552Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03086530600991456
Exiles or entrepreneurs? Snapshots of the Scots in Canada
Kingdom of the Mind: How the Scots Helped Make Canada. McGill-Queen's University Press, pp. 22-39, 18 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
'The Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair', 'Anne Drysdale', 'Lady Emily Gordon Cathcart', 'Annie Macpherson', 'Emma Stirling': 5 entries in E. Ewan, S. Innes and S. Reynolds (eds), A Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women from the earliest times to 2004 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press)
Dictionary entries. Dictionary entries.Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Other ContributionsEntrepeneurs or Exiles? Snapshots of the Scots in Canada
A Kingdom of the Mind. How the Scots helped make Canada, ed. P.Rider & H.McNabb, pp. 22-39, 17 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersEmigrant Homecomings: The Return Movement of Emigrants, 1660-2000
.Other Contributions: Other Contributions'Personal Contact is Worth a Ton of Text-Books': Educational Tours of the Empire, 1926-39
Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 48-76Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0308653042000279669
Crossing the Atlantic: Snapshots from the migration album
In: Canadian Migration Patterns from Britain and North America (ed. Messamore, B.J.) Ottawa University Press 2004, pp. 13-32, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersEnticing the Emigrant: Canadian agents in Ireland and Scotland, c.1870-1920
Scottish Historical Review, vol. 83, pp. 41-58Contributions to Journals: ArticlesPains, perils and pastimes: The Emigrant Voyage in the Nineteenth Century
In: MaritimeEmpires: British Maritime History in the Nineteenth Century (eds. Killingray, D.;Lincoln, M.; Rigby, N.) Boydell & Brewer: Woodbridge 2004, pp. 159-172, 13 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersAdventurers and Exiles: The Great Scottish Exodus
Profile Books, Profile Publishing. 432 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksNo English Need Apply? Saskatchewan's English Settlers, 1878-1914
British Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 16, pp. 88-101Contributions to Journals: ArticlesAberdeen and the Outside World
In: Aberdeen 1100-1800: A New History (eds. Dennison, P.; Ditchburn, D.; Lynch, M.) Tuckwell Press 2002, pp. 377-407, 30 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersEnticing the Emigrant: Agency Activity in the Highlands
Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, vol. LXIIContributions to Journals: ArticlesScotland and the Americas, 1650-1939: A Documentary Source Book
.Other Contributions: Other Contributions'Highlands and Islands, emigration' and 'emigration, post-1750, excl. Highlands', two entries in M. Lynch (ed), The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford, 2001)
Dictionary entries. Dictionary entries.Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Other ContributionsAbraham and Isaac Ride the Range: British Images of the American West
Journal of the West, vol. 40, pp. 8-15Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMyth, Migration and the Making of Memory: Scotia and Nova Scotia, c. 1700-1990
Books and Reports: AnthologiesEmigration from Scotland between the wars: Opportunity or Exile?
Manchester University Press. 243 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Cossar's colonists: Juvenile migration to New Brunswick in the 1920s
Acadiensis, vol. 28, pp. 47-65Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe advantages and drawbacks of cardbox-plus as a means of analysing Aberdeen University students in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
History and Computing, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 21Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThrough Canada with a Kodak: The Countess of Aberdeen
Books and Reports: AnthologiesThe challenges and rewards of databases : Aberdeen University students, 1860-c.1880
Scottish universities : distinctiveness and diversity. Carter, J., Withrington, D. (eds.). John Donald, pp. 147, 155 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)