Ursula Masson received Wales’ second purple plaque which was unveiled at Merthyr Tydfil Central Library on Friday 8th March, International Women’s Day 2019, by her niece, Helen Molyneux.
Born into Merthyr Tydfil’s Irish community, Ursula O’Connor attended Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School and Cardiff University. She worked as a journalist on the Sydney Morning Herald from 1969 to 1972, and did her MA at the University of Keele, funded by a bursary from Margaret Stewart Taylor, Merthyr’s first female chief librarian. Her dissertation was on Irish immigration to Merthyr. After working in adult education in Swansea she moved to Glamorgan Polytechnic, now the University of South Wales.
Here she had particular interest in women’s history and feminism and was instrumental in founding the Department of Gender Studies. She was the founding member of the Swansea Women’s History group, which later became the Women’s Archive of Wales, and of Jazz Heritage Wales.
All these organisations actively promote the recognition of women in Welsh history and the preservation of sources of women’s history in Wales.
https://www.womensarchivewales.org/en/
Derbyniodd Ursula Masson ail blac porffor Cymru ar ddydd Rhynglwladol y Menywod, 8fed Mawrth 2019 a ddadorchuddiwyd yn Llyfrgell Ganolog Merthyr Tudful gan ei nith, Helen Molyneux.
Yn un o ferched cymuned Wyddelig Merthyr Tudful, mynychodd Ursula O’Connor Ysgol Ramadeg Castell Cyfarthfa a Phrifysgol Caerdydd. Gweithiodd fel newyddiadurwraig ar y Sydney Morning Herald rhwng 1969 a 1972 a chwblhaodd ei MA ym Mhrifysgol Keele a ariannwyd drwy fwrsari gan Margaret Stewart Taylor, prif lyfrgellwraig gyntaf Merthyr. Roedd ei thraethawd hir ar fewnfudo Gwyddelig i Ferthyr. Ar ôl gweithio ym maes addysg oedolion yn Abertawe, symudodd i Bolitechnig Trefforest, sef Prifysgol De Cymru heddiw. Roedd ganddi ddiddordeb arbennig mewn hanes menywod a ffeministiaeth ac roedd hi’n un o sylfaenwyr yr Adran Astudiaethau Rhywedd yno.
Ursula oedd prif sefydlydd Grŵp Hanes Menwyod Abertawe a ddaeth wedyn yn Archif Menywod Cymru, ynghyd ag Etifeddiaeth Jazz Cymru. Mae’r sefydliadau hyn yn weithgar yn hybu cydnabyddiaeth menywod yn hanes Cymru ac yn diogelu ffynonellau hanes menywod yng Nghymru.