Papers of Professor Archibald Alexander McBeth Duncan

Scope and Content

The papers consist of lectures on history taken down by Duncan while at Edinburgh University.

Administrative / Biographical History

Archibald Alexander McBeth Duncan was born on 17 October 1926. He was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh, and he studied at Edinburgh University and at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1951 he became a Lecturer in History at Queen's University, Belfast, and from 1953 Lecturer in History at Edinburgh University. In 1961 he received a Leverhulme Research Fellowship, and then in 1962 he was appointed Professor of Scottish History and Literature at Glasgow University. Duncan was Clerk of the Senate of Glasgow University, 1978 until 1983, and was also a member of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, 1969 to 1992. His publications includeAn introduction to Scottish history for teachers(1967),The nation of Scots and the Declaration of Arbroath, 1320(1970),Scotland: The making of the kingdom(1975),Scottish independence, 1100-1328: an archive teaching unit(1980), andJames I, King of Scots, 1424-1437(1984). He also co-editedRegality of Dunfermline Court Book: 1531-1538(1953), editedThe Acts of Robert I, king of Scots, 1306-1329(1988) which was volume five in the seriesRegesta regum Scottorum, edited W. Croft Dickinson'sScotland from the earliest times to 1603(1977) and edited and translated John Barbour'sThe Bruce(1997). Professor Duncan retired in 1993.

Access Information

Generally open for consultation to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance.

Acquisition Information

Notes received October 1981, from Professor A.A.M. Duncan, Accession no. E81.97.

Other Finding Aids

Important finding aids generally are: the alphabetical Index to Manuscripts held at Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections and Archives, consisting of typed slips in sheaf binders and to which additions were made until 1987; and the Index to Accessions Since 1987.