I’m thrilled to have been awarded a University of St Andrews Library Visiting Scholarship! I’ll be using my time at @StAndrewsUniLib to think about the manuscript production of the Carmichael McIntosh family, and which will form part of my Collage before Modernism research project.
The William Carmichael McIntosh collection represents a uniquely rich and varied collection of visual, material, and literary objects produced by the Scottish marine zoologist William Carmichael McIntosh (1838-1931), and his two sisters Agnes and Roberta (1843-1869), the latter of which was a noted natural history watercolourist. From an early age, the siblings created numerous sketchbooks (ms37112/1 – ms37112/7); shared artistic practices that they would continue into their later lives, for example, creating a book of family drawings (ms36347/4) to which each of them contributed. Roberta was William’s illustrator until her death in 1869 (ms38458), whilst Agnes was his life-long companion. Both sisters created volumes dedicated to William’s life and work: with Roberta providing the illustrations to his publications, and Agnes creating a series of 13 family scrapbooks (ms37102), a significant portion of which are dedicated to William’s career. The collection also boasts a number of family photograph albums (ms37103), compiled by members of the McIntosh family, as well as Roberta McIntosh’s commonplace book, a complex object including manuscript contributions from various individuals, sketches of family members, collected pressed flowers, albumen prints, and newspaper cuttings. The proliferation of such items, as well as the collection’s extensive surviving correspondence, make the McIntosh collection an unparalleled source in understanding how such composite manuscripts created, sustained, and reflected familial relationships. A Visiting Fellowship will accordingly enable the thorough exploration of both the volumes and the question of how their production was bound to the creative, personal, and professional histories of the McIntosh family.
I’ll be heading to St Andrews to take up this fellowship in July 2019, and I’ll share my findings in the collections over on my twitter handle, @Freya_Gowrley.
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