Charlotte Macdonald Explained

Charlotte Jean Macdonald is a New Zealand historian. After studying as an undergraduate at Massey University, she earned her PhD from University of Auckland and is now a professor at Victoria University of Wellington.

Early life

Macdonald has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Massey University, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Auckland. The title of her 1986 doctoral thesis was Single Women as Immigrant Settlers in New Zealand, 1853–1871.^[1]

Professional career

Macdonald is a professor of history at Victoria University of Wellington. Her areas of expertise include: 19th century colonies and empires; New Zealand history; gender and women's history; and cultural history of bodies, modernity, sport and spectating.^[2] Her work has been marked by innovative approaches to historical research methodology and story-telling. For example, in her 1990 book A Woman of Good Character, she analysed the data connected to the lives of over 4,000 women, in combination with more conventional historical archival work, to understand a large migrant group: single women who came to New Zealand in the 19th century.^[3] She has also edited a number of collections of New Zealand women's historical primary material, greatly increasing the availability of such material.^[4]

Macdonald wrote the Te Ara – Encyclopedia of New Zealand entry on "Women and Men" in New Zealand history.^[5]

Macdonald was awarded a Marsden Fund grant in 2014 for a project entitled "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Settler: Garrison and Empire in the Nineteenth Century",^[6] which has developed into the Soldiers of Empire project. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi in 2017.

Selected works

• A Woman of Good Character: Single Women as Immigrant Settlers in Nineteenth-century New Zealand Allen & Unwin, 1990.
• The Book of New Zealand Women / Ko kui ma te kaupapa with Merimeri Penfold, Bridget Williams Books, 1991.
• The Vote, the Pill and the Demon Drink: A History of Feminist Writing in New Zealand, 1869–1993, Bridget Williams Books, 1993.
• Women in History (editor, with Barbara Brookes and Margaret Tennant), Bridget Williams Books, 1992.
• My Hand Will Write What my Heart Dictates, The Unsettled Lives of Women in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand, Bridget Williams Books, 1996. (editor, with Frances Porter),
• Women and Crime in New Zealand Society 1888–1910 BA (hons) thesis, Massey University.^[7]

External links

• Google Scholar profile
• Institutional homepage

Notes and References

1. Macdonald . Charlotte . 1986 . Doctoral thesis . Single women as immigrant settlers in New Zealand, 1853-1871 . ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland . 2292/1678.
2. Web site: Charlotte Macdonald School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations Victoria University of Wellington. www.victoria.ac.nz. en. 2017-08-05.
3. Web site: The 2017 Royal Society Te Apārangi New Fellows.
4. Book: See for example My Hand Will Write What my Heart Dictates, The Unsettled Lives of Women in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand (1996), and The Vote the Pill and the Demon Drink (1993).
5. Web site: Story: Women and men. Macdonald. Charlotte. Te Ara. 6 August 2017.
6. Web site: Marsden Funding Success for Victoria Researchers. 4 Nov 2014. 7 Jan 2019.
7. Book: Macdonald, Charlotte J. Women and crime in New Zealand society 1888–1910: a research exercise presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History at Massey University. 1977. 154233091 . en.