Ruth Miriam Ross (née Guscott; 1 January 1920 – 30 August 1982) was a New Zealand historian. She was part of the 1970s movement that sought to revise academic understandings of the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...

and educate the public on its translations and significance.

Biography

Ross was born in

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

, New Zealand, in 1920. She was educated at Clifton House and Wanganui Girls' College where she was head prefect. At

Victoria University College 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 ...

, she studied European and colonial history along with English literature. New Zealand history was not taught at universities at this time but through her teachers, Frederick Wood and J. C. Beaglehole, her interest in the subject was sparked. In 1942, she started work as a research assistant at the Centennial branch of the

Department of Internal Affairs The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), or in te reo Māori, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling la ...

. As staff left for war service she was given the project of creating a centennial atlas of New Zealand. She studied pre-1840 trade and settlement maps, furthering her interest in New Zealand history. Alongside her mapping work she wrote ''New Zealand's First Capital''. Using old land claim files and the

Native Land Court Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and enterta ...

minute books she brought to light rich archives that had been disregarded and left in the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presb ...

library attic. To add to her historical resources Ross went on a research mission to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for it ...

, and

Hokianga The Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as the Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. The original name, still used by local Māori, is ' ...

, networking with local historians and building up contacts through which she established a core of scholarly material that would provide the foundations of her research for the next forty years. In 1943, Ross married her first husband, Rex Whittington Burnard, a solicitor who died the following year. On 21 December 1945, she married her second husband, Ian Munson Ross, in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

. Ross resigned before the birth of their first child and following the birth of their second they moved to

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

. While her husband worked as a teacher, Ross wrote a primary school bulletin, ''Te Tiriti o Waitangi'', which was published in 1958. This was written as a dialogue between different characters to teach school children the range of interpretations of the treaty and the conflicting meaning found within them.

References

1920 births 1982 deaths People from Whanganui 20th-century New Zealand historians New Zealand cartographers People educated at Whanganui Girls' College Victoria University of Wellington alumni 20th-century New Zealand public servants 20th-century cartographers {{historian-stub