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Telegram - Jessie Macpherson to Hope Macpherson, Happy Christmas, Dec 1959
Reg. No: HT 30669
- Summary:
- Telegram to Hope Macpherson while on Macquarie Island in December 1959 passing on Christmas greetings from her mother, Jessie Macpherson.
Hope Macpherson was the first female curator at National Museum of Victoria (now Museum Victoria). Hope along with Isobel Bennett, Susan Ingham and Mary Gillham were the first women to visit the Antarctic in their December 1959 expedition. - Description:
- Standard form, Form A.224, Royal Australian Air Force, Message Form, printed in black on light weight, off white, paper.
- Statement Of Significance:
- The Hope (Macpherson) Black Collection is a significant addition to Museum Victoria's working lives collection, it reveals the journey of a woman from depression era Melbourne and illustrates the power of education. It also reveals the often discriminatory policies in place in Victoria before the equal opportunity developments of the late 20th century. In balance though it also exposes the somewhat free expression possible for empowered women in this period. Hope Macpherson clearly states that in her day to day work she never felt discrimination and believes she was given great opportunity to pursue her career and aspirations. However, on analysis her role was often shaped by her gender and its perceived strengths and weaknesses; she was dissuaded from applying to become a taxidermist as it was 'an unsuitable job for a woman', although part of the first group of female scientists allowed to travel to Macquarie Island they were not permitted to camp on land with the male crew for fear of inciting passions. And finally after a distinguished career she was forced to resign her tenure as Australia's first female Curator when she married late in life, as a consequence of the Marriage bar.
- Acquisition Information:
- Donation from Mrs Hope Black (nee Macpherson), 2011
| Discipline: | History |
| Dimensions: | 201 mm (Height), 218 mm (Width) |
More information
| Tagged with: | museum history, education |
| Themes this item is part of: | Hope Black nee Macpherson, Curator of Molluscs (1919 - ), Antarctica Collection, Public Life & Institutions Collection, Working Life & Trades Collection |
| Primary Classification: | MUSEUM HISTORY |
| Secondary Classification: | Working Life |
| Tertiary Classification: | staff |
| Inscriptions: | Message to recipient typed primarily in red. |
| Addressed To: | Miss Hope Macpherson - National Museum of Victoria, Macquarie Island, Tasmania, Australia, Dec 1959 |
| Sender: | Jessie Macpherson, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Dec 1959 |
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