The University of Aberdeen history professor, who is in Dunedin this week, particularly wants to interview Scots now living in New Zealand, as well as those descended from 19th-century Scottish immigrants.
When told that might be a fair proportion of Dunedin's population, she said she was only planning to be here a week but was keen to talk to as many people as possible.
Prof Harper has been studying Scottish emigration since the 1980s.
An estimated four million Scots emigrated in the 19th and 20th centuries, she said, most to Canada and the United states and a steady stream to Australia and New Zealand.
She has publishing contracts for two books, one about Scottish emigration to New Zealand since pioneer days and the other about Scottish emigration throughout the world in the 20th century.
While most of her research is done by trawling through newspaper files and public and private archives, Prof Harper said she was also interested in hearing personal stories.
"I like the immediacy of personal contact. You can learn a learn a lot from a person's body language and the interaction between interviewer and interviewee ... But I am a historian who uses oral history rather than oral historian as such. I am interested in using the oral history medium to complement written documentation and discover the message."
As part of her visit to Dunedin, Prof Harper will present a workshop today on genealogy resources available in Scotland, and give a public lecture tomorrow afternoon. Prof Harper can be contacted at m.harper@abdn.ac.uk or telephone Prof Angela McCarthy on (03) 479-8622.
