Photographs
Index of Posts: Slices of Shona's Life
Memories of Shona

Thank you so much for all your memories and thoughts. If you have something to post, or you have photos to post, you can get to me via the "Contact" page. - Maggi, Shona's sister.

Saturday
May122012

From Chris Carlsmith

Shona and I shared a common interest in the history of the University of Bologna, and particularly in the lives of the faculty and students resident at the Alma Mater Studiorum. Her work focused on the medieval period, while my interests ran to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but we were often using similar sources and archives. We saw each other at conferences, including the RSA, the New College conference in Sarasota, and (most recently) a wonderful event in Bologna in June 2011 where we were on the same panel. We also saw each other at Villa I Tatti, where Shona had been enjoying this year just as I had enjoyed a Fellowship year in 2009-10. Shona assisted me on several occasions when I was trying to locate a specific source in Bologna, and we regularly shared tips about whom to contact in the scholarly world.  Her recent work on “faculty families” was rigorous and important, but also entertaining—a perfect reflection of her own personality.

Beyond academia, Shona’s kindness and her humanity were evident to all. I looked forward to seeing Shona in the archives, and at conferences, because I knew that we would share stories both about our academic pursuits and about our personal lives. Her children were older than mine, of course, and so she was facing different issues, but it was always a comfort to hear how she balanced her work and her personal life. Last year she and I had talked about the challenges of bringing a family to I Tatti, and that sometimes it doesn't work out. I was impressed by her wisdom in that discussion, and her obvious affection for her immediate family.

I will miss her cheerfulness, her laughter, and her scholarly insights.

-Chris Carlsmith

Saturday
May122012

From Marta Cacho Casal

It was pretty clear to me from the start that Shona and I were going to be friends. She had this way of making instantly clear that she wanted to spend more time with you. I was very lucky to spend lots of time with her here in Florence, where we met thanks to the Villa I Tatti. I asked her, 'Did Bologna medieval professors have pictures in their houses?' Shona kept on answering that question over the past few months, every time she found some evidence, she would hurry back to me to tell me and pointed at completely unreadable (to most eyes) documents that proved or not her point. Shona was also my good neighbour and she would often come and pick me up on her crumbling baby-blue bike in order to go to I Tatti together. I relish every second of those twenty-minute walks before getting on Gennaro's mini-bus where we would talk about our lives in Florence, catch up with research progress (or lack of: 'working hard, or hardly working?'-she would ask me), talk about our families, and look forward to lunch. Although Florence is packed with tourists it was not a problem to catch sight of Shona in the crowds- the answer was often purple, which would come in the shape of a hat, a jumper, or a scarf. Shona also loved a bargain, one of the great triumphs was a shearling (which she use to pronounce 'scirling') bottle-green jacket, which she had bought for ten euros in the Cascine market. The jacket was by all standards unsightly, and most certainly a man's model. Shona would often brag about it 'got it for 10 euros, you know'. the jacket joined us on our winter outings, often layered with other trophies from the Cascine: 'this one two euros!' Alina was good at humouring her in her hunt for vintage clothes, and in one of our last visits we got lost in the market of Piazza dei Ciompi where she had acquired an enormous pair of brown plastic clip-on earrings. The last time I saw Shona, she came to my flat to pick up a trolley bag she needed to travel to Namur. Before she rushed down the four-floor staircase, she retraced her steps, in order to give me a big hug. I remember thinking as she left, how lucky I was to have her as a friend.

Marta Cacho Casal

Saturday
May122012

From Carol Lansing

Shona worked for many years in the Archivio di stato di Bologna, and the staff and scholars have much affection for her and feel the loss deeply. We were unable to attend the memorial at I Tatti, so we decided to join together in the square outside the archive at the same time, to celebrate Shona's longstanding presence in the archive. She combined intellectual rigor and discipline with great warmth and a rare manner we could only describe as gentle.  We invited Melissa Vise, a young Ph.D. student whom Shona had begun to help, to remember her generosity and continuing influence in the field.

Attending were: Carol Lansing, Sarah Blanshei and her husband Jack, Melissa Hamilton-Vise, Francesca Boris, archivist, Alessandra Servadei, custodial assistant, Silvana Cavicchi, custodial assistant, and Silvia Napoli, custodial assistant. Many other archivisits and assistants, who could not be at the Archives at that hour, have expressed their sorrow at losing a scholar and friend who was so admired.

Carol Lansing, Director of Graduate Studies, History Department, University of California, Santa Barbara

Friday
May112012

From Claudia Engelhart

I met Shona in 2nd grade, but I had not see her probably since high school. In her pictures she still looks exactly as I remember her from when we were little girls - the bright smile and long hair...I wish I had known her during our adult life. Everyone must be so proud of everything she accomplished during her abbreviated life...
My dear friend Ruth Senturia sent me her obituary. I am so sad to hear the shocking news. My heart and thoughts are with her family and friends.

Friday
May112012

From Konrad Eisenbichler

My heart goes out to Shona's family for their sudden loss of such a wonderful person, and to all of us in the academy for our loss of such a great colleague. We will miss her at Sarasota, at RSA, and I will miss her here in Toronto.