Delve into stories of human adventure, achievement and adversity as the Forres Heritage Trust welcomes Professor Marjory Harper to present the first of its Winter Talks series.
Professor Harper will give a snapshot of Moray’s migration throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in her talk: Snapshots from Morayshire’s migration album: two centuries of adventure and exile”
Two million Scots emigrated from their homeland in the 19th century, and a further two million in the 20th century.
Morayshire has always been well represented in the Scottish diaspora, though as Professor Harper will explain, its story has perhaps been somewhat neglected.
The talk will look at the triggers for emigrating, the means by which decisions were implemented, the experiences and impressions of Morayshire Scots overseas, and the impact of return migration.
Professor Harper who co-ordinates the online Master’s Programme in Scottish Heritage, will make extensive use of personal testimony – written and oral – to explore the complex and often contradictory saga of emigration.
The event will take place in the Tolbooth on January 15 at 7pm.
Bio of Professor Marjory Harper
Marjory Harper is Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen, and senior researcher at the Centre for History, University of the Highlands and Islands.
Her research focuses on British emigration since 1800, particularly from Scotland. Two of her monographs (Adventurers and Exiles (2003) and Scotland No More? (2012) have each won an international prize.
She co-authored (with Stephen Constantine) Migration and Empire (2010), a Companion Volume in the Oxford History of the British Empire and she has published around 100 articles.
Her edited collection, Migration and Mental Health: Past and Present was published in 2016 and she has authored a number of articles on migration and mental health in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Her most recent monograph, Testimonies of Transition (an oral history of twentieth-century Scottish emigration) was published in May 2018 and has recently been turned into an audio book.
She is about to begin a commissioned monograph on Scottish-Antipodean networks.
In her teaching capacity, she is the Director of a new online Master’s Programme in Scottish Heritage, which was launched in September 2017, and is involved in the development and implementation of training courses for the Scottish Tourist Guides’ Association.