Charlotte Jean Macdonald is a New Zealand historian. After studying as an undergraduate at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

, she earned her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

from

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

and is now a professor at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

Early life

Macdonald has a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(

Honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

) from

, and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

from the

. The title of her 1986 doctoral thesis was ''Single Women as Immigrant Settlers in New Zealand, 1853–1871''.

Professional career

Macdonald is a professor of history at

. Her areas of expertise include: 19th century colonies and empires; New Zealand history; gender and women's history; and cultural history of bodies, modernity, sport and spectating. Her work has been marked by innovative approaches to historical research methodology and story-telling. For example, in her 1990 book ''A Woman of Good Character'', she analysed the data connected to the lives of over 4,000 women, in combination with more conventional historical archival work, to understand a large migrant group: single women who came to New Zealand in the 19th century. She has also edited a number of collections of New Zealand women's historical primary material, greatly increasing the availability of such material. Macdonald wrote the Te Ara – Encyclopedia of New Zealand entry on "Women and Men" in New Zealand history. Macdonald was awarded a

Marsden Fund Marsden grants are the main form of contestable funding for fundamental, 'blue skies' research in New Zealand. Grants are made in all areas of research, in both science and the humanities. The grants are made from the Marsden Fund, which was establ ...

grant in 2014 for a project entitled "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Settler: Garrison and Empire in the Nineteenth Century", which has developed into th
Soldiers of Empire
project. She was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

in 2017.

Selected works

* ''A Woman of Good Character: Single Women as Immigrant Settlers in Nineteenth-century New Zealand''

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

, 1990. * ''The Book of New Zealand Women / Ko kui ma te kaupapa'' with Merimeri Penfold,

Bridget Williams Books Bridget Williams Books is a New Zealand book publisher, established in 1990 by Bridget Williams. Establishment Williams established the company in 1990 when the company she was working for, Allen & Unwin, was sold. She purchased the titles wh ...

, 1991. * ''The Vote, the Pill and the Demon Drink: A History of Feminist Writing in New Zealand, 1869–1993'',

, 1993. * ''Women in History'' (editor, with

Barbara Brookes Barbara Lesley Brookes (born 1955) is a New Zealand historian and academic. She specialises in women's history and medical history. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2022. Biography Brookes completed a bachelor's ...

and Margaret Tennant), Bridget Williams Books, 1992. *''My Hand Will Write What my Heart Dictates, The Unsettled Lives of Women in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand,''

, 1996''.'' (editor, with Frances Porter), *''Women and Crime in New Zealand Society 1888–1910''

BA (hons) Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

thesis,

References

External links

Google Scholar profile

Institutional homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Charlotte 20th-century New Zealand historians 21st-century New Zealand historians Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Living people Massey University alumni New Zealand women historians University of Auckland alumni Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington 1950 births Recipients of Marsden grants