A Dedicated Naturalist The Dr Mary Gillham Archive Project

Mary Eleanor GIllham

1921

2013

1953 PhD at Aberystwyth University

1957 4 year study tour of Australasia

1959 1 of first 4 women scientists to enter Antarctic

1970 1 of first women scientists to visit Aldabra

1962 Begins life and work in Cardiff

1949-2009 Writes 22 books, 51 journal articles and co-writes a further 9 books.

1962-2013 Teaches 5? 10? 000 students through Cardiff University, CNS, WTSWW etc

The Project

Written notes, travel journals, wildlife diaries, unpublished manuscripts, maps, illustrations and 14 000 slides

The data

The stories Landscape change in Wales, biodiversity, women in science, conservation biology, international travel

150 000 wildlife records

(spanning 60+ years)

How are

we doing

it?

The data

June ‘63, ’64, ‘65

plus 1890

Harrison’s 1967 list

and 1971’s additions

Vols… Social media Flickr Archiving Face to face engagement Oral history recording

Progress (up to November)

Checked and live…

South Africa 1960

The stories

Aran Islands 1979

Forest Farm 1977

Flickr – people, flora, fauna….

The battle for

Llantrisant Common

1970s campaign against open cast mining

But what was Mary like?

Barcelona 1954

Did Mary recognise the ‘firsts’ she achieved?

Why did she dislike computers so much?

What was her personality?

Did she reminisce about her earlier travels?

What made her such a success?

… and who else should be recognised?

Skokholm 1979

We’ve come for your

memories…

Acknowledgements

The heroic Mary Gillham Project volunteers All the other folk who have helped, supported and enthused about the project Heritage Lottery Cardiff Naturalists Society Cardiff University Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council National Museum Cardiff Natural Resources Wales South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales On completion of the project the archive with be stored at Glamorgan Archives, the pictures and sound recordings will be archived on the People’s Collection Wales website (National Library of Wales). Annie Irving, Ibrahim Kayoueche, Chris Lawrence, Iain Munnery, Valmai Lewis, Museum Victoria and Alan Wilkins for images