Showing 12 results

Names
Dundee

Alex Coupar

  • MS 258
  • Person
  • 1932-
Alex Coupar was educated at Dens Road and Morgan Academy. He always wanted to be a photographer and joined DC Thomson after leaving school as a press photographer, eventually specialising in theatre work and the Scots Magazine.
In 1953 he served his National Service with the Royal Air Force School of Photography where he was a publicity photographer. In 1955, Coupar returned to Dundee and DC Thomson and where he worked on news stories and with the Dundee Repertory Theatre, producing production and publicity photographs.
Leaving DC Thomson in 1966, Coupar set up his own studio at 19 South Tay Street, working freelance for the press and for companies like Dundee Rep and Bett Brothers builders (his first clients). Coupar's studio, Spanphoto, became known as one of Scotland's premier photographic firms.
Alex Coupar married Margaret with whom he had a son and daughter. He retired and closed Spanphoto in 2000.

Anna MacDonald

  • Person
  • 1935-2022

Anna MacDonald was born in Dundee, the eldest of six children. She was educated at Rockwell Primary School and Rockwell Secondary School, then worked for a number of companies in Dundee, including Watson and Philip and Burndept-Vidor. Anna also worked at the University of Dundee, where she was the operator of the first word processer the University used.

A prolific and award winning poet, Anna MacDonald produced several collections of verse, and was also the author of booklets about old Dundee. Much of her poetry relates to Dundee and its culture. Her poem 'Oor Wullie' was widely used in conjunction with the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail in Dundee in 2016 and Oor Wullie's Big Bucket Trail in 2019, while her poem 'Adele Penguin' was been used to promote Maggie's Penguin Parade in Dundee in 2018. Her poetry has been used in schools and material produced by Verdant Works. Anna also translated the Japanese poem Furusato into English for the Nagano Winter Olympic Games in 1998.

Anna MacDonald was also recognised for her contributions to traditional music, and for many years performed as part of the 'Temperance Two Showband' with her second husband Clifford Inglis, who died in 2018. She was also the author of an unpublished autobiography which gives a frank account of her life and provides an invaluable insight into working class life in twentieth century Dundee. A year before his death, Cliff Ingles wrote his autobiography "I Belonged to Glasgow" which includes some of Anna's poems.

Anna died in 2022.

Examples of Anna MacDonald's poetry can be found at http://bygone.dundeecity.gov.uk/people/anna-macdonald
Cliff Inglis is featured on this podcast from the 2017 Dundee Literary Festival: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/literarydundeepodcast/episodes/2017-10-17T22_00_00-07_00

Bert Barnett

  • Person
  • fl 1964-
Bert Barnett studied architecture at the Art College, Dundee, from 1964-1970, repeating years two and five of his course. Bert has spent most of his career as an architectural assistant, working with Ric Russell, partner in Nicoll Russell architects, who features in many of the photographs, and with local authorities. Latterly, he worked for an architect's firm in Blairgowrie, Perthshire.
'Sleepy People', the subject of the photographs, were a college band made up of architecture students who played at Art College ' hops'.

Catherine Pennington Paunov

  • Person

Catherine (Cathy) Pennington Paunov is a native of Washington, DC. Following graduation from high school in 1968, she participated in an American Institute for Foreign Study program that summer at the University of Dundee. Two of her favourite classes were History of the Highlands and Archaeology.

Cathy holds the BS degree from the University of Maryland in government and politics, the MS degree in the Administration of Justice from the American University in Washington, and the MLS and JD degrees from Brigham Young University. From 1972-1974, she served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas. Since graduation from BYU, she has lived in Texas and New York, where she met her husband, Zlatko Paunov, a sculptor, originally from Bulgaria.

Now semi-retired, they reside in Florida and New York, depending on season. Cathy continues some pro bono legal work with non-profit organizations, as well as substitute teaching at local schools.

Dr James Rorie

  • Person
  • 1838-1911
James Rorie was 4 April 1838 in Arbroath and educated at Arbroath Academy. In 1855 he began studying at Edinburgh University as a medical student graduating in 1859 as a Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he also received a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons. He then began working in the old Dundee Asylum and was appointed Superintendent in 1860. Throughout his life Dr Rorie was an important member of the Glasite Church and in 1872 married Margaret Baxter with whom he raised a family. He was later involved in the building of the new asylum at Westgreen, Liff which eventually became the Royal Dundee Liff Hospital. In 1891 Dr Rorie was appointed lecturer on Mental Diseases in the Medical Department at Dundee University College. He died in 1911.

Jim Smith

  • Person
  • -2022

Jim Smith was born in Saltcoats and educated at Ardrossan Academy. He studied Zoology at University of Dundee 1969-1972. He went on to complete his PhD at Dundee in Freshwater Ecology.

Jim was the President of the Sport Union for two years and met his wife Catherine, the first female Sports President. They married and had two children. Jim died in October 2022.

Robert N.M. Robertson

  • Person
  • 15 March 1915-6 February 1991
Robertson was born in Canada and grew up in Rothsey. He attended Glasgow University as a law student and later served with the army in India and took part in the Normandy landing during the Second World War.
He was appointed as an administrator to the Medical School at St Andrews in 1945 and later left to become the Secretary of the University of Southampton. He became Secretary and Registrar of Queen’s College, Dundee in 1966 and continued as Secretary of the University of Dundee from its foundation in 1967 until 1973. It is recognised that he played a major role in its development during the 20th century.

School of Life Sciences

  • Corporate body
  • 2000-
The School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee was formed in October 2000 from the Departments of Anatomy and Physiology, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences and Chemistry. These Departments were dissolved and replaced by eight Research Divisions and a Teaching Unit. The School is housed in five buildings on the University Campus, namely the Wellcome Trust Biocentre (WTB), the Medical Sciences Institute (MSI), the Biological Sciences Institute (BSI), the Old Medical School (OMS) and the Carnelley Building. Completed in 1997, the WTB is the most recent addition, being built and equipped with donations totalling nearly £14 million. This includes £10 million from The Wellcome Trust (thought to be the largest single charitable donation ever given to Scotland). The WTB is physically joined to and fully integrated with the MSI and this research complex houses some 450 scientists and support staff. A further 200 Scientists are based in BSI, OMS and the Carnelley Building. The School comprises some 70 Research Groups headed by Principal Investigators (PIs) that include citizens of Austria, Britain, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Japan, and the USA, and scientists from 52 different nations work in the School. Many of the PIs have been awarded prestigious Research Fellowships and a host of National and International Research Prizes. Current research grants awarded from non-University sources are £23 million per annum mainly from the Wellcome Trust, the UK Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the National Environmental Research Council, The Royal Society of London and a number of Pharmaceutical companies. The eight Research Divisions of the School are Biological Chemistry and Molecular Microbiology, Cell Biology and Immunology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Cell Signalling, Environmental and Applied Biology, Gene Regulation and Expression, Molecular Physiology and Physical and Inorganic Chemistry. They carry out fundamental research into many of the most topical areas of current biomedical and life sciences research, and their work is aimed at understanding the causes of diseases that include diabetes, cancer, hereditary skin diseases, inflammatory diseases, defects of the immune system, antibiotic resistance in bacteria and tropical parasitic diseases.

The Brittle Bone Society

  • Corporate body
  • 1968 - Present
The Brittle Bone Society (BBS) was founded in Dundee in 1968 by Margaret Grant and is the only UK-wide charity organisation set up to provide support to people affected by the bone condition, Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). The Society works closely with specialist medical units and other professionals from across the United Kingdom, plays a crucial role in promoting research into the condition and offers practical support, advice and encouragement to patients and their relatives. The Society continues to operate from its Dundee headquarters and currently has a membership in the region of 1000.

University of Dundee Ladies' Club

  • Corporate body
  • 1928-
The University of Dundee Ladies' Club held its inaugral meeting on 25 October 1928. Originally known as Dundee University College Tea Club it was later known as Queen's College Ladies' Tea Club. Formed for the relatives and wives of University staff the club organised social events, talks and lectures. In 2003 it celebrated its 75th anniversary.