The Angus L. Macdonald library is pleased to inform the public that a new collection of digitized letters is now available on StFX Scholar, our institutional repository. Anyone on or off campus can view the McGregor Family Letters Collection here: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14648/75
This remarkable collection of letters, dating from 1805 to 1842, was donated to the Angus L. Macdonald Library by George and Elizabeth MacKenzie of Truro, N.S. George was a descendent of Malcolm McGregor, who had emigrated from Scotland to Pictou in 1801 with his wife Isobel and two children. As Malcolm and Isobel built a new life in Nova Scotia, friends and relatives in Scotland wrote letters conveying family news (marriages, births and deaths) and updates on everyday life. The letters also describe general social and economic conditions in Scotland. Britain experienced economic challenges after the Napoleonic wars, and this is reflected in the frequent descriptions of low prices for livestock, high rents, and the constant threat of losing one’s tenancy, which would leave a family homeless and destitute. There are requests for financial assistance, and several family members seek advice about emigrating to Nova Scotia. The letters portray the struggles which led many Scottish Highlanders to leave their homeland and undergo the difficult journey to Canada, but also the hope they had to find more independence and security.
The letters were transcribed and encoded, with permission, by students of Dr. Laura Estill’s ENGL 226: “From Tablets to Tablets: Texts and Technologies,” with the support of librarians Laurinda Matheson and Margaret Vail.
For inquiries, please contact Laurinda Matheson, Special Collections and Reference Services Librarian.
