Papers of Rev. Professor W.D. McHardy (1911 - 2000), CBE, Hebrew scholar

Scope and Content

GB 231 MS 3139 Correspondence and other papers associated with W.D. McHardy's Syriac library, 19th - 20th c. Includes McHardy's own committee papers from the British and Foreign Bible Society Translation and Library Sub-committee and the Oxford University Oriental Institute Library Committee.

GB 231 MS 3638 Personal papers of W.D. McHardy, including lecture notes taken whilst studying at Aberdeen University; lectures delivered as Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of London and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church, Oxford; transcript of a Bodleian Library Syriac manuscript (Bodleian MS Marsh 86, Bodl: 703); and working papers on Tobit, 20th c (unpublished).

Administrative / Biographical History

William Duff McHardy was born in Cullen, Aberdeenshire, on 26 May 1911, son of William D. McHardy, engineer. He graduated from the University of Aberdeen, MA 1932, BD 1935 and was awarded an honorary DD in 1958. After further study in Edinburgh and Oxford, he was appointed Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament Studies at the University of London, 1948 - 1960, and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church, Oxford, 1960 - 1978. He worked on the translators' panel of The New English Bible. New Testament, ed. by C. H. Dodd, (Oxford and Cambridge: Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, 1961) and The New English Bible with the Apocrypha, ed. by C. H. Dodd, (Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, 1970); and in 1983 was appointed director of revision and chairman of the new translators' panel of the The Revised English Bible with the Apocrypha, ed. by W.D. McHardy, (Oxford and Cambridge: Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, 1989). In 1990 he was awarded the CBE.

For further details see obituary in Aberdeen University Review, 59 (Spring 2001), 455. See also Aberdeen University Review, 37, (1957 - 1958), 393; and John Mackintosh, Roll of the Graduates of the University of Aberdeen, 1926-1955, with Supplement 1860-1925 (Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen, 1960)

Arrangement

None observed - listing in process

Access Information

Open, subject to signature accepting conditions of use at reader registration sheet

Acquisition Information

GB 231 MS 3139 deposited in the University in Aug 1983, by the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages, University of Aberdeen GB 231 MS 3139 deposited in the University in Aug 1983, by the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages, University of Aberdeen GB 231 MS 3638 deposited in Oct 2000, by Professor McHardy's daughter, Dr Alison McHardy, Department of History, University of Nottingham.

Other Finding Aids

Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/

Alternative Form Available

No copies known

Conditions Governing Use

Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Special Libraries and Archives (e-mail: speclib@abdn.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Appraisal Information

This material has been appraised in line with normal procedures

Custodial History

GB 231 MS 3139 Professor William Johnstone, Head of Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages, University of Aberdeen, purchased Professor McHardy's Syriac Library from him in 1983. It was catalogued by John Elwolde, also of the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages, University of Aberdeen. Manuscript material found inside the library volumes was extracted at this time and transferred to Special Libraries and Archives in Aug 1983.

Accruals

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Related Material

The McHardy Syriac library was amalgamated into the stock of the University Library. The McHardy Syriac library was amalgamated into the stock of the University Library. Christ-Church College, Oxford holds a small collection of correspondence between Professor McHardy and Hugh Pilkington (who worked in Kenya as a bible translator during the 1970s).

Bibliography

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Additional Information

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