Geography in the Long Vacation

An excellent blog post from the Bodleian Libraries account is helpful for providing some further information on the summer schools that were organised by Frances and A J Herbertson in the early days of the Oxford University geography department.

They were particularly influential and drew on the expertise of other geography educators as well as helping the next generation of geography educators with their innovative ideas. As the blog says:

The summer vacation courses were designed chiefly for schoolteachers. Held to coincide with the school holidays, they were open to anyone. Those attending spent a couple of weeks in Oxford during August for a special course of lectures and practical work in geography. The courses included field trips (for surveying and map drawing) as well as excursions to local places of geographical interest.

Oxford University Geography Department and women

An interesting lecture on video which features many former GA Presidents and also Fanny Herbertson along the way as it tells the story of the department's changing relationship with women students (and tutors). The Herbertsons established summer schools and there are some useful insights into this time, when a great many graduates were introduced to new ways of thinking and working. Even today, maleness is still a major factor, such as the names of the Chair and prizes.

This event forms part of the University’s celebrations marking 100 years since women were first permitted to take degrees in Oxford. Dr Elizabeth Baigent, Reader in the History of Geography at the University of Oxford and former Research Director of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, uncovers the contribution of women to Oxford’s School of Geography – an institution whose history is generally told in terms of historic male endeavour. By uncovering the lives of women staff and students from the establishment of the School at the end of the nineteenth century, Liz explores the varied contributions of the School’s women and their connections with wider movements such as women’s suffrage – as well as asking why we have until now regarded them as marginal and unimportant.

Fanny Herbertson

Updated August 2022

Sometimes (but not always) remembered in the telling of A J Herbertson's tremendous contribution to the GA was that of his wife Fanny. Frances Dorothea Herbertson is described below:

Her story, and those of other female geographers are told in this book here.

She was a teacher herself, at Cheltenham Ladies College, and there is also a connection with Patrick Geddes, who will also be featured on the blog in a future post.
There is a link to Robert Neal Rudmose Brown, who featured recently on the blog.
See the A J Herbertson post on the blog for more on the work that he completed with his wife, including jointly authored books.


Source
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p_xfuY8CJ48C&lpg=PT115&ots=xln_U09sEO&dq=%22marguerita%20oughton%22%20sheffield&pg=PT115#v=onepage&q&f=false

Updated August 2022

A Chronology of Fanny Herbertson