Personal Papers
The BSA Archive contains a variety of personal papers of archaeologists, architects, antiquarians and historians, who visited Greece before the foundation of the British School. The full list of can be seen on the BSA Archive Page: https://www.bsa.ac.uk/about-us/archive/collections/personal-papers/. Below you will find the ones already available on Digital Collections.
William Gell Personal Papers
Sir William Gell (1777-1836) was a Classical scholar, antiquary, traveller and Member of the Society of the Dilettanti. His six notebooks, most likely produced between 1801 and 1810, include itineraries, sketches of antiquities, people and places he visited while he was travelling with Edward Dodwell in Greece and Asia Minor.
Keppel Craven Personal Papers
Sir Keppel Richard Craven’s (1779-1851) notebook, most likely created between 1811-1813, contains sketches (some in colour) of the people, places and antiquities he encountered while on the Second Ionian Mission sponsored by the Society of Dilettanti, on which he was accompanied by William Gell and the architects John Peter (Deering) Gandy and Francis Bedford.
William Flinders Petrie Personal Papers
Sir William M. Flinders Petrie’s (1853-1942) notebook contains watercolour drawings of Aegean pottery recovered, ‘from the waste heaps of the Palace of Khuenaten, Tell el-Amarna’ (Egypt). Petrie created the drawings in April 1892 after his first season of excavations at the site and also included his thoughts on the chronology of the Aegean pottery in relation to Tell el-Amarna.
Emily Penrose Personal Papers
The personal diary of Emily Penrose (1858-1942), eldest daughter of Francis Cranmer Penrose the first Director of the British School at Athens, written from March 1887 to September 1888. The entries record her time living in Greece from March to November 1887 and, later, her family’s journey through Italy on their return home to Britain.