Stories from the United Nations Archives: Archivists decode the mystery woman
Tick World Refugee DayHeld every year on June 20, we will tell you what has been discovered by these ambitious archivists from United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCRthe United Nations Office in Geneva and the United Nations Archives and Records Administration (ARM), has preserved the memories of the Foundation since its inception in 1945:
Portrait of Margaret Bruce, social affairs officer in the human rights department of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (document)
“As the world commemorates the 70th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, ARMS recognized a mystery.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) found that the photo caption from the 1951 Convention identified the three men present but did not name the sole woman sitting at the table.
In an effort to find answers, archival teams from UNHCR, the United Nations Office at Geneva and ARMS joined forces to identify this woman.
The first clue comes from Knud Larsen, Chairman of the Conference, who is sitting in the middle of the photo. In his speech at the conference, he thanked “Miss Kitchen”, the Deputy Executive Secretary – located to his right – for keeping the conference on track. Additional research revealed that her first name was Margaret.
We later discovered that shortly after the 1951 Congress, she married and changed her name to Margaret Bruce.
This discovery opened up her life story to us.
Margaret K. Bruce (left), Head of the Status of Women Section at the United Nations Human Rights Division, talks with Helvi L. Sipila of Finland, Chair of the 1967 Commission on the Status of Women. (file )
Margaret (Kitchen) Bruce was born in the United Kingdom, joining the Secretariat at the first United Nations General Assembly in London in 1946.
Moving with the Organization to New York, she later married a fellow employee, William James Bruce.
Initially joining the Civil Rights Division, Margaret worked directly with Eleanor Roosevelt during the drafting of the Act. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
She has held many important roles during her 32-year tenure, including Deputy Director of the Center for Social and Humanitarian Development.
She retired from the United Nations in 1977.
During the first session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946 in London, former US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt convened a meeting of female delegates. (document)
Through ARMS’s careful review of documentary evidence, her identity was rediscovered and thus her contributions were finally revealed to the world!
After this discovery, The photo’s caption has been modified and now includes Margaret’s name.”
Right. The caption in the UN Photo archive is now available in full:
“July 28th [1951], at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, 12 countries signed the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, drafted by the World Conference on Refugees and Stateless Persons, meeting here from 2 to July 25. Israel signed later. The signatory countries are Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom and [then] Yugoslavia.”
Seated at the table from left to right: “Margaret Kitchen, Deputy Executive Secretary; John Humphrey, Director of the Human Rights Division; Knud Larsen (Denmark) Conference Chairman; Dr GJ Van Heuven Goedhart, High Commissioner for Refugees.”
In 1963, Head of the Status of Women Department at the United Nations Secretariat Margaret K. Bruce (left) spoke with the President of the 17th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Maria Lavalle Urbina of Mexico. (document)
UN News showcases the monumental moments and outstanding individuals that are part of the history of the United Nations, cultivated from United Nations Audiovisual Libraryalong with 49,400 hours of video and 18,000 hours of audio recording United Nations photo And archive carefully crafted throughout the United Nations system since the Organization’s founding in 1945.
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