Katherine Flora Cameron MacNaughton was born near Black River Bridge, New Brunswick in 1901 to Donald MacNaughton and Annie MacMurray. She graduated from the Provincial Normal School in Fredericton in 1919. In 1923 she entered the University of New Brunswick, leaving after two years, but with qualifications to teach high school. She served as a teacher and principal in several New Brunswick schools, with her longest stay as a teacher of history in Campbellton High School. She completed her BA from UNB in 1941. With a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, she returned to UNB for her MA in History, which she earned in 1945. MacNaughton’s Masters thesis, “The Development of the Theory and Practice of Education in New Brunswick, 1784-1900” became the standard history of NB public education. She was the first female to receive a Beaverbrook Overseas Scholarship (post-graduate), awarded in 1947. She received an honorary LL.D. degree from UNB in 1953. She retired from teaching in 1961 but remained active in retirement, working as a librarian in Oromocto, and as a volunteer at the Provincial Archives in Fredericton. Katherine MacNaughton died 30 October, 1993 in Fredericton.
Sources: Gammon, Frances (Firth). "People - Dr. Katherine F. MacNaughton." Reflections 5, no. 9 (Sept. 1989): 9, 12. "In Memoriam - Dr. Katherine F. MacNaughton." Reflections 11, no. 2 (Winter 1994): 32.