Archive Stories

The ‘Archive Stories’ page highlights BSA Archive projects from the hands-on work of processing collections (cataloguing, preventative preservation, digitization) to the exhibitions utilizing our archival material. It also presents the latest archive related research from the broad range of researchers consulting the BSA archives on topics from archaeological investigations to byzantine and early modern history; as well as complementing the Annual Bader Archive Lecture. We hope to use this page as a venue to make all the wonderful hidden ‘Archive Stories’ available to the public as they happen!

Return to Sparta: the 1924-1927 BSA Excavations at Sparta in the SPHS Collection

Return to Sparta: the 1924-1927 BSA Excavations at Sparta in the SPHS Collection

Building on the success of the British School at Athens (BSA) excavations at Sparta in 1906-1910, the BSA returned to Sparta after WWI. The decision was made sometime during the 1922/1923 academic session, as reported in the Annual Report in the Annual of the British School at Athens (ABSA): After ...
O! Sycophant!

O! Sycophant!

Who are we talking to when we write in our books? George Finlay's books are stuffed with letters from friends and endearingly tart marginalia. For the last few weeks I've been cataloguing these letters and notes for future researchers and have been thinking about what they can tell us about ...
Third-hand clothes

Third-hand clothes

Over the past few months, I have been working on the re-cataloguing and digitisation of the papers of the British Philhellene and historian, George Finlay, and his friend, Captain Frank Abney Hastings, who were eyewitnesses to many of the events of the Greek Revolution and confidants to other leading British ...
Philhellenism redux- Finlay rises

Philhellenism redux- Finlay rises

‘We are all Greeks’ wrote Percy Shelley in 1821[1], in what became a rallying cry for all those Romantic revolutionaries— known to us as the Philhellenes—who lent their support in one way or another to the ‘Greek cause’, i.e. the Greek Revolution. Indeed, it is almost impossible for one to ...
Sparta Begins: 1906-1910 BSA Sparta Excavations in the SPHS Collection

Sparta Begins: 1906-1910 BSA Sparta Excavations in the SPHS Collection

The investigation of Laconia and British School at Athens (BSA) excavations centring on Sparta was one of the most extensive and productive projects carried out by the BSA in the early 20th century. By 1904, the BSA had turned its archaeological focus from Crete to Laconia, beginning with a scheme ...
Sparta Groundwork: SPHS Images of Early BSA Explorations in Laconia

Sparta Groundwork: SPHS Images of Early BSA Explorations in Laconia

One of the major British School at Athens (BSA) archaeological endeavours in the early 20th century was the campaign in and around Sparta in 1906-1910: the survey and accompanying trial excavations in various parts of the ancient site of Sparta, but most significantly, the extensive excavation of the sanctuary of ...
Island Observations: A.J.B. Wace & R.M. Dawkins in the Southern Aegean 1906-1907

Island Observations: A.J.B. Wace & R.M. Dawkins in the Southern Aegean 1906-1907

How can visual media tell a story? Image-based observations are often dependent on context – who composed them, what they show, when and possibly why they were created. It also depends on who the story is told to. Many of these SPHS-related Archive Stories are told through photographs with a ...
Distances Travelled, Things Seen: W.R. Halliday's Photographs in the BSA SPHS Image Collection

Distances Travelled, Things Seen: W.R. Halliday’s Photographs in the BSA SPHS Image Collection

In the 1910/1911 Academic session at the British School at Athens (BSA), William Reginald Halliday arrived as the Craven Student from Oxford. The Annual report for that session recorded his activities: “He assisted throughout at the excavations at Phylakopi and spent the rest of his time in making extensive journeys ...
Through the Female Lens: Women Travellers’ Photography and the BSA SPHS Collection

Through the Female Lens: Women Travellers’ Photography and the BSA SPHS Collection

One of the benefits to cataloguing the large BSA-SPHS photographic collection is teasing out stories. The images tell the stories, but they were created by individuals who photographed and/or donated the images to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (SPHS). People have motivation. First, they determine what to ...
Digging Crete: SPHS Images from BSA Excavations in a New Century

Digging Crete: SPHS Images from BSA Excavations in a New Century

At the close of the Archive Story, Digging II, which chronicled the growth of British School at Athens (BSA) excavations in the late 19th century, I mentioned that the BSA had turned its sights to Crete at the beginning of the 20th century. Given the change in the political situation ...

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