Identity area
Reference code
Gardiner MSS
Title
Date(s)
- c. 1900-1963 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
89 boxes, 74 card index boxes, 26 packages, 72 books, offprints, and albums.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
British Egyptologist. Born, Eltham 1879. Died, Oxford 1963. Educated at Charterhouse, then studied Classics, Hebrew and Arabic at The Queen's College, Oxford. Worked with A. Erman on the preparation of material for the Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache and was sub-editor 1906-8. Laycock Studentship, Worcester College, Oxford, 1906-12. Edited many Egyptological publications, including the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. Published extensively in the field of Egyptology. Honorary Secretary of the Egypt Exploration Society, 1917-20, Vice President and then President, 1959-63. He was awarded many distinctions during his career. Specialized in hieratic texts on papyri and ostraca. Gardiner published the 1st edition of his Egyptian Grammar in 1927, which is still one of the essential learning aids for Middle Egyptian. Gardiner was also a member of the Tutankhamun excavation team, recording inscriptions from objects found in the tomb during the first few seasons.
Archival history
Bequeathed to the Griffith Institute by Sir A. H. Gardiner.
Additional material:
- A copy of My Early Years, by Sir Alan Gardiner. Typed, photocopied and bound by John Gardiner at Ballaghaue, Isle of Man, 1986. Includes Henry John Gardiner, … A very few reminiscences by his younger son, and The Tutankhamun tomb, by Margaret Gardiner. Donated by Mr David Brown in 2004 (Gardiner MSS. 41.11).
- Incomplete (Preface and pp. 1-27) typescript of Sir A. H. Gardiner’s My Early Years, annotated by Gardiner himself, donated by Mr and Mrs Hulin in 2004 (Gardiner MSS. 41.12).
- Copy of My Early Years presented by Professor John Baines in December 2013 (Gardiner MSS. 41.13).
- A fourth copy of My Early Years (Gardiner MSS. 41.14) accessed with a copy of My Working Years, by Sir Alan Gardiner (Gardiner MSS. 41.15).
- A. H. Gardiner’s copy of G. Maspero, Sur quelques inscriptions du temps d’Amenemhâit Ier au Ouady Hamamât (1891); bound together with H. Brugsch’s copy of the article by V. Golenishchev, ‘Epigraficheskie ruzultaty poiezdki v Uadi Khammamât’ (ca. 1888); interleaved pages with annotations of A. H. Gardiner; transferred from Sackler Library on 14/05/2013 [Shelfmark: 383.3 Mas; Library Barcode: 302098243V; Aleph System Number: 011852561] (Gardiner MSS. 41.16).
- 'The Gardiner Pamphlets': typescript with a catalogue of part of Gardiner’s personal collection of pamphlets (offprints and small format publications), now on permanent loan to the Swansea University Library; transferred from Sackler Library on 17/06/2014 and accessioned on 03/05/2016 (Gardiner MSS. 41.17).
- A second and third copies of My Working Years, by Sir Alan Gardiner; transferred from Sackler Library on 01/10/2021 [Shelfmark: 318 Gar; Aleph System Number: 012148408] (Gardiner MSS. 41.18-19).
- Invitations to A. H. Gardiner’s 80th birthday party; internal transfer in March 2010 (Gardiner MSS. 39.58)
- Group of letters written by A. H. Gardiner to his wife Hedwig during the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun, 1923-1924 (Gardiner MSS. 47).
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The estate of Sir A. H. Gardiner. Additional material, as stated above in Archival history.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Notebooks, notes, card indexes of the Pyramid Texts and Late Egyptian, copies of inscriptions, corpus of transcribed hieratic ostraca and papyri, photographs, drawings, correspondence, copies of his own publications, and portraits.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Mostly kept as received. Correspondence has been arranged in alphabetical order.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Property of the Griffith Institute. Access to correspondence is subject to prior approval by the Keeper of the Archive. The rest of the material is open access and available for consultation at the Griffith Institute Archive.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford.
Language of material
- English
- French
- German
Script of material
Language and script notes
And other European languages.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
No problems.
Finding aids
Catalogue.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
These are originals, except where indicated in Gardiner catalogue.
Existence and location of copies
Not known.
Related units of description
Publication note
- Publication details indicated in catalogue.
- 'Howard Carter's drawing of The Festival Procession of Opet' (= Gardiner MSS 11.1-7) published online on the Griffith Institute website (http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/carter-special.html).
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
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Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
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Sources
Digital object metadata
Filename
Gardiner_46_1_colour_2500.jpg
Latitude
Longitude
Media type
Image
Mime-type
image/jpeg