Collection JCE/22/2/26 - Mary McDonald papers

Identity area

Reference code

GB 249 JCE/22/2/26

Title

Mary McDonald papers

Date(s)

  • 1917 - 1921 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

5 certificates + 12 photographs + 1 album (0.02 metres)

Context area

Name of creator

(1898-1997)

Biographical history

Mary Ann McAllister Duthie (nee McDonald) was born in Jamestown, West Dunbartonshire, on 14 July 1898, to Donald McDonald and his wife, Elizabeth McLeish. She was the second of four children, with an older brother, Thomas, and two younger brothers, Peter and Donald. She was educated at Jamestown Public School and Vale of Leven Higher Grade School, where she gained the Junior Student's Certificate in 1917. Upon leaving school, she briefly took up employment in John Brown's Drawing Office in Clydebank, but this was not for her and she enrolled for the two-year 'Chapter III' course of teacher training at the Glasgow Provincial Training College, forerunner of Jordanhill College of Education. Mary qualified as a primary school teacher in 1919 and taught at College Street School in Dumbarton until 1932, when she married George Alexander Duthie, a master saddler, who had a business in High Street, Dumbarton. As women had to give up their posts on marriage, this was the end of her teaching career. Her student cohort (Section F, 1917-1919) held an annual reunion for 60 years. Miss Jean Milligan, who taught Scottish country dancing at the College, attended many of these reunions, which took place at the Ca' D' Oro restaurant in Glasgow. Mary, who had no children, died, a month short of her 99th birthday, in June 1997.

Archival history

These papers were inherited by Mary McDonald's niece, Mrs Nancy Johnston, who donated them to the University of Strathclyde.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

  • Junior Student's Certificate, Vale of Leven Academy, 31 July 1917
  • Certificate of Merit in Singing, Glasgow Provincial Training College, session 1917-1919
  • Training Record, Glasgow Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers, 26 June 1919
  • Classes for the further training of teachers: Domestic Science (First Course) Certificate, Glasgow Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers, session 1927-1928
  • Classes for the further training of teachers: Domestic Science (Second Course) Certificate, Glasgow Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers, session 1928-1929
  • Portrait photograph of Mary McDonald by Studio Cecil, Glasgow, 1918. Black and white; 45 x 78 mm on 61 x 100 mm mount
  • Group photograph of female Chapter III students (Section F), taken outside the Stow Building, June 1919. Includes Mary McDonald (back row, 4th from left) and her lifelong friends Effie Brown (back row, 5th from left) and Jessie Bennett (back row, 6th from left). Black and white; 262 x 177 mm on 354 x 267 mm mount
  • Studio photograph of Mary McDonald (seated on left) and five female friends, including Effie Brown (standing on right) and Jessie Bennett (seated on right). By Clarke Barry, Glasgow, 8 February 1919. Black and white; 135 x 86 mm
  • Photograph of student group (Mary McDonald seated front row, second from left), one girl holding a tennis racquet. Annotated on reverse: 'Taken [in] Jordanhill Gardens, 21st May [19]19.' Black and white; 86 x 52 mm
  • Photograph of Mary McDonald (standing, centre) and three friends, one holding a tennis racquet. Annotated on reverse: 'Stow College [,] June 1919'. Black and white; 60 x 60 mm
  • Photograph of Mary McDonald (second-back row, second from left) and nine friends, one holding a tennis racquet. Annotated on reverse: 'Tennis [,] Jordanhill [,] 1919'. Black and white; 64 x 64 mm
  • Photograph of student group (Mary McDonald pictured back row, third from left), annotated on reverse: 'Loch Shore [,] F2 Picnic [,] 15th June [19]18'. Black and white; 74 x 53 mm
  • Photograph of student group, annotated on reverse: 'Loch Shore [,] F(2) Picnic [,] 15th June [19]18'. Black and white; 68 x 47 mm
  • Photograph of students and staff, annotated on reverse: 'Milngavie [,] 24.2.19 [,] Botany Excursion'. Black and white; 88 x 60 mm
  • Photograph of five female students, annotated on reverse: 'Milngavie [,] 24.2.19 [,] Botany Excursion'. Black and white; 60 x 88 mm
  • Photograph of Mary McDonald (on right) with a female colleague, standing outside a building. Annotated on reverse: 'College St. School [,] 1921'. Black and white; 59 x 84 mm
  • Photograph of Mary McDonald's sister-in-law, Jeanie Middleton Hamill, wearing the College blazer, c.1921. Jeanie attended the Glasgow Provincial Training College from 1921-1923 and married Mary's brother, Peter, in 1936. Black and white; 59 x 85 mm
  • Autograph album, received by Mary McDonald on her 20th birthday and subsequently filled with sketches and verses by fellow students, friends and family members. Includes a list of students in Section F, 1917-1919; sketches on the theme of the First World War, and a sketch of the French and British flags contributed by Mary's brother, Peter McDonald

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Language and script notes

    Physical characteristics and technical requirements

    Overall in good condition. The autograph book's binding is fragile. The certificates had been stored rolled up, and some are torn at the edges; some of the photographs are also faded.

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