Papers of and relating to John Fraser

GB 231 MS 2760 Working papers of Professor John Fraser, comprising transcripts of portions of Irish manuscripts (including Ravlinson, Lebor Brethnach, and Lebor Gabula), and notes thereof, n.d. [post - 1945]

GB 231 MS 2771 Working papers of Professor John Fraser and F.C Diack, concerning their research on Celtic philology, conducted during Professor Fraser's time at Aberdeen University, 1907 - 1921. The collection comprises notebooks, files, loose papers, and photographs, with original indices thereof. The original order of papers and files has been disturbed, and listing yet to be completed.

John Fraser John Fraser was born in Inverness in 1882. After graduating from the University of Aberdeen, MA 1903, he continued his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge and the University of Jena. In 1907 he returned to Aberdeen as Assistant in Humanity, and in 1916 was appointed Lecturer in Celtic and Comparative Philology there, a post which he held until his appointment to the Oxford Chair in 1921. He was a frequent contributor to learned periodicals, but published no substantial work of his own. Whilst in Aberdeen, he was engaged in research with Francis Carney Diack on Scottish place name studies. In 1927 he married Frances Galloway Mordaunt (MA Aberdeen, 1919), Assistant in Greek, University of Aberdeen. He died at Oxford on 18 May 1945.

For an appreciation of his life and works see Aberdeen University Review, 31 (1944-1946), 122; 193 - 195.

Francis Carney Diack Francis Carney Diack was born in Aberdeen in 1865. He was educated in Banchory and Aberdeen, graduating from the University of Aberdeen, MA 1887. He taught for a short time after graduation, before being appointed, in 1892, as Assistant in the University Library and the Department of English, posts which he resigned in 1898, due to ill-health. He developed an interest in Scottish Gaelic, and through extensive and thorough field work became an authority upon the origin and development of Gaelic place names in the North East Highlands, contributing 2 articles on The Toponomy of Pictland to the Revue Celtique, (1921-1924), with other articles published in the Transactions of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, Scottish Gaelic Studies, and the local press. He was precise and meticulous in his work, and on account of his scholarly caution, only a fraction of this research appeared in print during his lifetime. After his death, the Third Spalding Club redressed the balance with the publication of The inscriptions of Pictland: an essay on the sculptured and inscribed stones of the north-east and north of Scotland, with other writings and collections, edited by William M. Alexander and John MacDonald (Aberdeen: Third Spalding Club, 1944), which is comprehensive in its coverage of his work on the inscribed stones of Scotland, and also contains much of the substance of his place name collections. He died at Banchory, in Sept 1939.

For an appreciation of his life and works see Aberdeen University Review, 27 (1939-1940), 56-57; and F.C. Diack The inscriptions of Pictland: an essay on the sculptured and inscribed stones of the north-east and north of Scotland, with other writings and collections, edited by William M. Alexander and John MacDonald (Aberdeen: Third Spalding Club, 1944).

None observed - listing in process.

Open, subject to signature accepting conditions of use at reader registration sheet

GB 231 MS 2760 deposited in the University in Jun 1970, by Professor John MacDonald. GB 231 MS 2760 deposited in the University in Jun 1970, by Professor John MacDonald. GB 231 MS 2771 deposited in the University in Dec 1970, by Professor John MacDonald.

Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/

No copies known

Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Special Libraries and Archives (e-mail: speclib@abdn.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

This material has been appraised in line with normal procedures

GB 231 MS 2760 was given to Professor John MacDonald, (1886 - 1970), lecturer (from 1926, reader) in Celtic and Comparative Philology at the University of Aberdeen, 1922 - 1956, by Professor John Fraser's widow, after his death in 1945.

GB 231 MS 2771 was probably used by Dr William M. Alexander and Professor John MacDonald, whilst compiling F.C. Diack's The inscriptions of Pictland: an essay on the sculptured and inscribed stones of the north-east and north of Scotland, with other writings and collections, edited by William M. Alexander and John MacDonald (Aberdeen: Third Spalding Club, 1944). It seems likely that these papers remained in Professor MacDonald's custody prior to deposit in Special Libraries and Archives.

No accruals expected

Manuscript volume, entitled Place-names of the Eastern Highlands; from the notebooks of Francis C. Diack, compiled by W.M. Alexander (co-editor of F.C. Diack's The Inscriptions of Pictland, cited above) (GB 231 MS 2276). It is believed that the notebooks of Francis C. Diack, to which this volume refers are deposited in GB 231 MS 2771, described in Scope and Content above.

Collection of photographic negatives, plates, prints and slides, plaster casts and rubbings, of ogham, Pictish or Latin inscriptions and sculptured stones in Scotland, made by F.C. Diack c 1924 - 1939; with 16 card index files containing Diack's research on Scottish place names (GB 231 MS 2636).

Research notebooks of John Fraser are deposited in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth (Reference : John Fraser and EC Quiggin)

F.C. Diack The inscriptions of Pictland: an essay on the sculptured and inscribed stones of the north-east and north of Scotland, with other writings and collections, edited by William M. Alexander and John MacDonald (Aberdeen: Third Spalding Club, 1944).

This material is original