Name/TitleLook Back In Wonder
MakerBryson, Elizabeth
Maker RoleAuthor
About this objectPaperback book titled 'Look Back In Wonder' by Elizabeth Bryson, first printed in 1966 and reprinted in 1979. The main content headings are:
Part I: Childhood Remembered
Part II: Growing Up
Part III: The Beloved University
Part IV. Women in Medicine
Part V: The New Medical School
Part VI. The Prospect Before Me
Medium and MaterialsOrganic, paper
MeasurementsH: 202 x W: 129 D: 11 mm
Date Made1966-79
PeriodLate 19th - mid 20th century
Place MadeScotland, Dundee
Place NotesDavid Winter & Son Ltd, 15 Shore Terrace, Dundee
PublisherDavid Winter & Son Ltd
Publication Date1966
Publication PlaceScotland, Dundee
Subject and Association Descriptionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bryson:
Elizabeth Horne Bain Bryson née Macdonald (19 August 1880, Dundee — c.1969, London) was a physician, broadcaster, and prominent member of the League of Mothers, an organisation promoting the Christian upbringing of children. Born in Dundee to parents of humble means, Elizabeth Macdonald was the daughter of Donald Macdonald, 'sometime cashier and poet', and Elizabeth Bain, a teacher. She graduated at the age of 19 from the University of St Andrews with a degree in English Literature with first-class honours. She was a medical student at the University College of Dundee and the Bute Medical School (now St Andrews), where she graduated MBChB in 1905, completing an MD and publishing her thesis in 1907.
As a woman, she was not offered a hospital appointment in Scotland and left for New Zealand to enter private practice as an assistant. During the First World War, she was a school medical officer. She returned to general practice in 1918, after marrying Dr Robert Bryson (1877-1934). The couple had two children, both of whom became doctors. Upon moving to Wellington, Elizabeth Bryson specialised in gynaecology and women's health, and 'women flocked to consult her.' Her husband supported her in this. She was also a prominent member of the League of Mothers, promoting the Christian faith in the upbringing of children. She was considered a 'born organiser' and 'excelling in all things domestic, as a good Scots woman should' by her contemporaries.
Bryson returned to Britain in the 1930s and studied psychology at the Tavistock in London, applying this in her pioneering research on the psychosomatic approach in gynaecology. After her return to New Zealand in 1939 she broadcast eight radio talks on nutrition for the Health Department. After her retirement in 1953, she wrote a History of the League of Mothers in New Zealand in 1959, and later wrote her autobiography, Look Back In Wonder, in 1966. Her autobiography has been quoted by researchers on topics such as the power of the book in the lives of working people and the medical career ambitions of women of her generation. She died in London in 1969.
Subject and Association Keywordswomen's history
Subject and Association Keywords(auto) biography
Subject and Association Keywordsmedicine & medical treatment
Subject and Association Keywordspregnancy & motherhood
Subject and Association KeywordsFirst World War
Named CollectionGlasgow Women's Library
Object TypeBook
Object numberGWL-2025-112-3
Spine LabelBRYSON ~ LOOK BACK IN WONDER ~ WINTER
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved