Rachel Hart
Rachel is to be awarded the University Medal on Tuesday 3 December 2024 during the afternoon ceremony.
Rachel had been working as an archivist for 40 years, and at the University of St Andrews for 27 years, when she took early retirement from her post as Head of Archives and Rare Books (Keeper of Manuscripts and Muniments) in Libraries and Museums in August 2023.
While at St Andrews, she led a team passionate about the collections in their care.
Rachel was particularly keen to bring stories of the history of the University to a wider audience and loved showing University Collections to visitors. She also mentored many students who became archivists.
She studied at Durham and Liverpool before moving to live and work in Aberdeen. She arrived in St Andrews in 1995 with her husband Trevor on his appointment to the Chair of Divinity at St Mary’s College.
Rachel has taught Palaeography to Masters students both here in St Andrews and at the University of Dundee for more than 20 years and continues to do so for the Schools of History and English.
She served on the UK Archives Accreditation panel from 2013 to 2019 and was a founding Trustee of the Scottish Council on Archives in 2012, remainingg on the board until 2022.
In semi-retirement, she is now enjoying conducting her own archival research.