William Towrie Cutt papers
- Reference:GB 241 D48
- Dates of Creation:1904-1981
- Name of Creator:
- Language of Material:English
- Physical Description:0.15 Linear Metres
Scope and Content
Papers mainly relating to William Towrie Cutt’s career in Alberta (Canada), 1904-1981, including his teaching career and short stories; photograph album of family, friends and work, 1948-1982; preparatory material for and typescripts and published versions of Cutt’s work 1936-c1966; prize books awarded to Cutt when a schoolboy in Orkney, 1909-1912.
Administrative / Biographical History
William Towrie Cutt was born in Sanday in 1898, the ninth child and seventh son of John Cutt and Betsy Muir. He was educated at Sanday Central and Kirkwall Grammar Schools. He emigrated to Canada in 1926 and trained as a teacher at Calgary Normal School in Alberta. He taught in frontier country at Beaton Creek until 1941 when he moved to Edmonton where he studied at Alberta University. It was during this period that he first started writing and had several short stories published. Until his retiral in 1960 he worked for the Alberta government's correspondence school. Only after he retired did he embark seriously on his career as a childrens' writer, publishing On the Trail of Long Tom (1970); Message from Arkmae (1972); Seven for the Sea (1972); Carry My Bones Northwest (1973); Faraway World (1977) and finally, in collaboration with his wife Nancy, The Hogboon of Hell and other Strange Orkney Tales, (1979). William Towrie Cutt died aged 83 in 1981 and his ashes were buried in his native Sanday. The paperslisted were gifted to the Orkney Archives in August
1989 by his widow Margaret Nancy Davis. [Biographical details from obituary published in 'The Orcadian', 17 September 1981 and' Spotlight on William Towrie Cutt' in 'The Orkney View', No. 26, Oct./Nov. 1989]
Access Information
Open
Other Finding Aids
Item level catalogue in typescript form held by Orkney Archives;