IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0505 PP42
Held at: Royal Holloway, University of London
Title: DUNCAN, Dr Annie (Nan), 1926-2000
Date(s): 1952-2001
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 2 boxes of 0.02m3
Name of creator(s): Duncan | Annie (Nan) | 1926-2000 | zoologist
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Born London, 28 November 1926, but spent her earliest years in Russia where her father went to work; graduated in 1948 with an External London BSc in Zoology taken at University College, Leicester; studied marine worms in the Isle of Man and was awarded her PhD from the University of Liverpool; moved, in 1952, to Royal Holloway College as Assistant Lecturer in the newly opened Zoology Department; promoted to Lecturer in 1957 and retired in 1991 as Reader in Ecology, a University of London appointment which she had held since 1976; her research was concerned with plankton living in the reservoirs situated around Staines and she supervised investigations into the fauna of the slow sand filters through which London's drinking water is purified; her data has been incorporated into increasingly refined models of how reservoir ecosystems work; pioneer in the use of echo-sounding to measure fish populations, equipment now used routinely by the Environment Agency; with a botanical colleague, she started a BSc Ecology degree at a time when only three such degrees were taught in the UK. At the time of Dr Duncan's death, she was the initiator and principal coordinator of a complex project funded by the EU which embraced numerous colleagues from three European and three SE Asian countries; worked extensively in Europe, Africa and the USA; maintained a lifelong association with socialism and eastern Europe, maintaining communications across the Iron Curtain; after her formal retirement Duncan remained active in research as Emeritus Reader in Ecology and Leader of the Hydroacoustic Unit at the Royal Holloway Institute of Environmental Research; died 3 October 2000.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Comprising material relating to the Zoology Department at Royal Holloway College, University of London, particularly during the 1960s and 70s; including a large number of photographs depicting staff and students from the Zoology Department, of fieldwork, particularly in freshwater ecology, and of trips to Poland; papers relating to the courses run by Dr Duncan for the Water Board, and research notes, correspondence and photographs on Cartesian Diver Respirometers; proposal for a University of London Institute of Hydrobiology; personal material including copies of Dr Duncan's CV and offprints of journal articles written by her, obituaries, and details of a meeting held in Vienna in her honour, which were collected together after her death.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged in sections as outlined in the Scope and Content.
Conditions governing access:
Open to all registered users of the College Archives. Some personal papers have been closed for 100 years from the subject's birth. Users are advised to consult the College Archivist for specific details.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies of open material may be supplied, subject to the condition of the original. Requests to publish original material should be directed to the College Archivist.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Detailed listing available on automated catalogue, searchable via web OPAC.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
None expected
Archival history:
The material in this collection was deposited in the Archives by Mary Morris (nee Burgis), Dr Duncan's scientific executor, in August 2001. Much of the material had been found in her office files; some documents had been printed from her computer files.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Dr Mary Morris, School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Description compiled by Nicky Sugar, College Archivist, for the RSLP AIM25 Project.
Date(s) of descriptions: 2002