Although vacations are quiet periods for some parts of the campus, the University Archives often finds that things are busier than ever. Currently, researchers are looking at a variety of sources covering different research topics.
One researcher is looking at the education of women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although her primary focus is women in the Art College she has found interesting material on the treatment of female students in general and also attitudes towards them. Women have always studied at Dundee, since one of Mary Ann Baxter’s stipulations when she provided the endowment for University College, Dundee, was the equal participation of the sexes. However, the struggle to be treated as equals with their male counterparts was long and difficult. The hindrances ranged from being patronised with oft-used epithets such as "sweet" and "charming" to female medical students being barred from clinical training at Dundee Royal Infirmary.
Another researcher is looking at the treatment of mental illness and has been using the extensive Sunnyside Hospital records. These contain patient records from Montrose Asylum, and together with corresponding records from Dundee Lunatic Asylum they provide an unparalleled picture of mental health treatment in the nineteenth century.
During the earlier part of that century many cases were simply diagnosed as "monomania" and in those moralistic days alcohol was frequently blamed for the affliction.
Other recent researchers have included a doctoral student from St Andrews interested in all our jute records (a mammoth task!), geographers looking at changing land use in Dundee, historians interested in early nineteenth century press, and of course the inevitable genealogist. One recent reader was an alumnus from Queen’s College days, who was looking for the group photograph of the first years in 1955. We were able to find the photograph, so that apart from seeing himself as a young man he was able to recognise old acquaintances - and more than one old girlfriend! Not that the archive staff are tied to the search room - recently a couple of staff went along to the School of Life Sciences and were given items once belonging to Robert Percival Cook, first Professor of Biochemistry at Dundee. These included a parrot which long ago had shuffled off its mortal coil - but that’s a whole different story.