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Archival description
Percy Edward Newberry Collection Series
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Biographical Material

This series includes material created by Newberry and material related to Newberry created by others. It includes newspaper cuttings, letter lists, diary notes, photographs, and material relating to Newberry's genealogical research.

This series also includes Newberry's excavation diary during his work for Lord Northampton from 1898 to 1899.

Correspondence

Newberry's correspondence was sorted and listed after his death by Warren Dawson and donated along with the rest of his material to the Griffith Institute Archive in 1950. The correspondence was arranged alphabetically by surname, with the exception of Arabic names which were arranged by first name. In the new numbering system these Arabic names have also been arranged by surname. A few letters have also been added to this series which were previously among the research material.

Dawson's reference codes have been included as alternative identifiers and his catalogue of correspondence has been included as the first item in this series.

Towards the end of his life Newberry began to organise his papers including listing and numbering some of his correspondence. These numbers have been included in the description of items. The letter lists are in items NEWB1/03 and NEWB1/04.

Research Notebooks

Percy Newberry's series of notebooks includes notebooks on single subjects, indexed notebooks on a range of subjects and research journals. Many of the notebooks have been numbered (in the form NB followed by a number) by Newberry and are referenced elsewhere in his research notes. As such it appears that these notebooks were used as reference books by Newberry, and they often include lists of bibliographic references for a subject.

Unfortunately it is evident that this series of notebooks is not complete and there are numbered notebooks referred to in Newberry's research material that do not appear to be in the collection.

Subject Files

In a letter relating to the accession of Newberry's collection to the Griffith Institute Archive in 1951 Dr I. E. S. Edwards (Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum) lists 'Files containing notes on individual subjects (mainly in filing cabinets)'. This series is made up of files which are all consistent in appearance and contain notes on individual subjects. Each file tab is labelled with a subject heading and contains research notes. Some of the files contain research that has evidently been done at different times but subsequently gathered together. For example files contain pages cut from notebooks.

Some organisation of this material was done during previous archival processing. Unfortunately it is not possible to know whether the contents of the files are as they were when received or whether related material has been added to these files from elsewhere in the collection.

There is evidence in Newberry's correspondence that in the period after the Second World War to the end of his life in 1948 Newberry was organising his research material in preparation for a general publication on ancient Egyptian history and archaeology. It is possible these files were created by Newberry in preparation for this publication and as such form a distinct series within the collection.

Research Material

Along with the subject files and notebooks is a large body of research material that does not have any apparent order. It includes several draft manuscripts, card indexes, research notes, tracings, drawings, and photographs. Topics include predynastic Egypt, Egyptian antiquities including scarabs and seals, ancient Egyptian religion as well as relating to research on sites in Egypt including copies of inscriptions, plans and drawings.

In a letter on the transfer of the Newberry collection to the Griffith Institute Archive in 1951 Dr I. E. S. Edwards (Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum) lists: Tracings of tomb inscriptions and decorations (packed in brown trunk); A group of texts and other material dealing with the Second Intermediate Period; and a large collection of "scholar's notes" on various subjects for the most part classified but in some cases merely labelled "Miscellaneous notes". It is this material which now constitutes this series. This material was arranged during previous archival processing according to subject and evidence of this work is still visible by the grouping and labelling of material.

It has been difficult to determine the date of much of this research material. Where a date range is provided it is often based on publications referenced by Newberry in his notes.