| Administrative History | Mona Elspeth Mackay, born Aberdeen 16 October 1908 daughter of William Mackay lithographic artist. MA (Honours) English and French, 1930.
Docteur de l'Universite (Bordeaux) 1937 [The published version of her thesis is in the main Library, Mona Mackay, 'Meredith et la France' (1937, Paris, Boivin, pp297). It has a handwritten dedication from the author to Professor and Mrs Ferguson, and it came to the library from Professor A S Ferguson in 1958.]
Assistant in French, Aberdeen University 1932 - 1937
Assistant in French, Glasgow University 1938 - 1939
Assistant in French and English, Aberdeen High School for Girls 1943 - 1946
Assistant in French and English, Torphins school 1949 - 1961
Assistant in French and English, Grantown Grammar School 1961 - 1968
There is no information on what she did between 1939 and 1943.
After working at various schools in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, she retired from Grantown Grammar School in 1970 and lived the rest of her life at Advie. She died in 2003. |
| Custodial History | Dr MacKay bequethed her collection of books to the University of Aberdeen and under the terms of her will, the Professor of French was given authority to distribute the collection between departments, staff and students of the University.
Following her death on 21 April 2003, the books were collected and distributed according to Dr MacKay's wishes by Professor Alison Saunders, Carnegie Chair of French. With the books was a small collection of notebooks, manuscripts and journals which, with the approval of the lawyer administering Dr MacKay's estate, were transferred to Historic Collections. |
| Description | This small collection of personal papers comprises diaries, 1925 - 1926, 1930s, 1950s; notebooks, n.d. [?1950s - 1960s]; manuscripts of an unpublished short story divided in 'Forenichts' and a novel ("The Man in the Peat Bog"), n.d. [?1950s - 1970s]; photographs, c 1950s - c 1990s; testimonials, 1950s - 1960s; mark book for French class, University of Aberdeen, 1935 - 1936. |