Margaret Hasluck, a Scottish scholar of Albanian ethnoculture, was born in Morayshire, Scotland. She completed her studies at the University of Aberdeen in 1907, specializing in classical studies, and later studied law at Cambridge. Margaret Hasllëk came to Albania in 1926; between 1927 and 1939, she lived in Elbasan, from where she occasionally made study trips to central and northern Albania. She was particularly interested in Albanian customary law and folk art, documenting Albanian ethnocultural objects through photography, and collecting ethnographic items, some of which she published. However, she donated all of her collections to museums in England that were interested in such values. Her main work, which made her well-known in the field of Albanian ethnology, is “The Unwritten Law in Albania” (Cambridge, 1954). The work is a compilation and systematization of Albanian customary law in a unique manner, addressing themes but not codifying them, and presenting 25 issues in sequence. It was finalized and edited for publication by I. E. Alderson and J. H. Hutton. Margaret Hasllëk also wrote a number of articles for the Royal Anthropological Society journal, including topics on the Gypsies in Albania, as well as some English-Albanian brochures for teaching languages. She passed away in 1948. (In the photograph: Margaret Hasluck)
Text: Albanian Encyclopedic Dictionary, Vol. 2, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 893.
Photography: © https://www.specialforcesroh.com/index.php?media/margaret-hasluck.8545/
Graphic processing: AHCF
