The photographs fall into four groups:

1. Those received with the papers temporarily received by the historian of the Royal Commonwealth Society prior to their transfer to the University of Durham, where Malcolm MacDonald was Chancellor 1971-1981. These photographs comprise the bulk of MM 1-13, 24, and 27-30.

2. A small number of photographs which had been included in the papers and listed with them. It was agreed by the Trustees of the papers that these should form part of the photograph collection, but to avoid confusion notes were inserted in the papers at the appropriate points, and photocopies of the photographs included there. Subsequently, duplicate photographs have been sent to Durham, and the position is summarised in an addendum to this introduction.

3. Further items given by Mrs. Sheila Lochhead, MacDonald’s sister and the MacDonald family trustee of the papers, in 1989 and 1991 included prints added to MM 6, 7, and 11, and the whole of MM 14-23, 25-26.

4. A few miscellaneous items from various sources, e.g. a framed photograph given by Sir Ralph Hone (MM 5/49), some other photographs of Malaya from the RCS collection, and several prints of the University of Malaya transferred from Y3011UU.

However, the collection contains very few of MacDonald’s own photographs, whereas it is clear from several of his published books, e.g. ‘Borneo people (1956) and ‘Angkor’ (1958), that he was a keen photographer. Many of the photographs are routine official records of receptions at airports etc. - this is particularly so in MM 6 - or of official routine visits, e.g. MM 19 and MM 23.

A few of the photographs are captioned by MacDonald, several of the official photographs have descriptions attached, and some have presentation inscriptions, but the majority lack any identification.

MacDonald’s early career, to 1941, when he went to Canada as High Commissioner, is covered by MM 1, together with albums MM 2, on his visit to Fiji in 1925, MM 14, photographs of New South Wales presented to him in 1936, and MM 3, a visit to the Royal Canadian Air Force in Britain before departing. MM 4 covers the years in Canada 1941-1946, with one or two earlier photographs of that country. MM 5-6, 15-18 relate to his years in South East Asia, 1946-1955. The loose prints have been divided into two sequences, MM 5 dealing with Commonwealth Asia and MM 6 with non-Commonwealth countries which he visited following the extension of his responsibilities as Commissioner-General in 1948. In each case, the section has been broken up to leave gaps for added material on different territories. MM 5 has Malaya and Singapore (see also MM 16), Sarawak; North Borneo; Brunei; and Hong Kong. MM 6 has French Indo-China (also in MM 17-18); Burma; Thailand; and Indonesia. MM 16 was an album (relating to 1950) in bad condition which has been discarded, and the contents stored as separate prints. Three photographs of MacDonald’s work at the Geneva Conference on Laos 1961-62 are at MM 6/251-253; scenes during his visit to South East Asia late in 1962 are at MM 5/140-143 and 346-348.

MM 7 contains the loose prints relating to India 1955-1959, and albums MM 8-10, 19-22 are also from this period. MM 11 has loose prints of Africa, chiefly Kenya, during MacDonald’s period as Governor 1963, Governor-General 1963-64 and High Commissioner 1964-65. MM 12-13 and 23 also relate to this period. There are some photographs from his time as Special Representative in Africa which ended with his retirement in 1969. MM 27 and 28, on Cambodia, probably relate to this period.

MacDonald’s retirement years are covered in MM 24 (loose prints), MM 25 (loose photographs of China) and albums MM 26 and MM 29. MM 30 contains a miscellaneous collection of photographs and paintings.

Photographs too large for inclusion with the main sequence have been housed in a separate box as follows: MM 5/48-50, 316, 330, 332-335; MM 7/90; MM 24/13-15.

MM 31-44 were numbered and boxed subsequent to their arrival at the Cambridge University Library.