What was it like to be a woman student of History at St Andrews in the 1930s? Taking inspiration from popular modern day ‘Day in the Life’ blog posts and YouTube videos, a group of current undergraduates explored…
One of the most fascinating findings from analysing the University Calendars of the 20th century was discovering the prevalence of women’s associations that existed for alumni of the University of St Andrews. In the…
Whilst investigating the St Andrews women historian contingent, our main aim was to not only identify their presence, but also their backgrounds. This opportunity came in the form of hometown records listed in…
One of the most fascinating periods of Doris Ketelbey’s life is the six months she spent working in the British occupied Gold Coast from 1950-1951. Ever a historian at heart, Ketelbey saved a large collection of…
In the early twentieth century, there were few long-term jobs in academia: most departments had just one professor (or ‘chair’), and some had only a lecturer. For those hoping to embark on a career in a university, the…
The first PhD in History at St Andrews was awarded to T.F.G Dexter in 1922. Perhaps remarkably, it was only a few years later before two women followed suit: Edith MacQueen and Edith Thomson were awarded their PhDs in…
Edith Mary Johnston, MA 1951 PhD 1956 (later, Mrs Liik) As far as we know, Edith Mary Johnston (1930-2008) was the first female St. Andrews PhD historian to go on to an academic career. Born in Belfast, in 1930 to…
When we began this project, we thought we knew that the old department of Mediaeval History had a better track-record of appointing women than the old department of Modern History. Local memory ‘knew’ about the…
In 1965, there was no ‘School of History’ at St Andrews, but History was being taught in a number of different contexts. The annual St Andrews University Calendar [i.e. directory or year book] for 1965-66 provides a…
History had only became an option for M.A. students at St Andrews in the 1890s. The first Lecturer in History, James Mackinnon, was appointed in 1896. Some students took ‘History’ as one of several subjects while…