Esther Barbara Chalmers's Scottish International Lives

Abstract

The archive compiled by Esther Barbara Chalmers (1894-1983), now in the National Library of Scotland, is an extraordinary work which contains not only records but implicit and explicit arguments about the variety of relations between Scotland, Europe, and empire. The history of the archive’s creation and transmission, as well as the histories of individuals and networks it preserves, including accounts other Scottish women, constantly draw attention to larger histories in ways which reflect deliberate political and intellectual decisions by Esther Chalmers.