Identity area
Reference code
Černý MSS
Title
Date(s)
- 1918-1988 (Accumulation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
52 boxes, 56 card index boxes, 8 packages, 4 rolls, 1 book, 1 album and 7 ring binders.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Czech Egyptologist. Born, Plzeň 1898. Died, Oxford 1970.
Son of Antonín Černý (1861-?) and Anna Černá, née Navrátilová (1866-?). Educated at elementary school (1904-1909) and state grammar school (gymnasium) in Plzeň (1909-1917). Studied at Charles University, Prague (1917-1922, matriculated for winter semester 1917/1918, doctoral degree awarded 1922 (see https://is.cuni.cz/webapps/archiv/public/book/bo/1542020090975492/147/?lang=en). Employed as clerk in the Živnobanka central branch in Prague (1919-1927). Associated with the IFAO from 1925 as visiting scholar, later member of expedition to Deir el-Medina. Awarded scholarship to study hieratic ostraca in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Sponsored by T. G. Masaryk, P. Petschek and Orientální ústav, Prague. Secretary of the Orientální ústav from 1929. Worked with Sir A. Gardiner on ostraca from different European collections as well as on hieratic papyri. Formal contract with Gardiner from 1934. Lecturer in Egyptology, Charles University, Prague, 1929-46. Worked in Sinai in the 1930s, resulting in his new edition of Gardiner and Peet, The Inscriptions of Sinai. Excavated at Deir el-Medîna, 1925-1970. Worked as epigrapher in Abydos with A. Calverley and M. Broome.
Affiliated to the Czechoslovak legation in Cairo from 1942, in diplomatic service of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile (London) until 1945.
Appointed Edwards Professor of Egyptology, University College London, 1946-51. Professor of Egyptology, Oxford, 1951-65 (Emeritus, 1965-70). Worked in Nubia recording temple inscriptions at Amada, Gebel el-Shems, and Abû Simbel during the UNESCO campaign.
Initiated and co-organised topographical and epigraphic mapping on the Theban mountain as part of the UNESCO and CEDAE campaign.
Published extensively in the field of Egyptology including publications on palaeography, Ramesside period, social history, religion, and late New Kingdom hieratic inscriptions.
Married Marie Sargant née Hloušková (1899-1991).
Archival history
Bequeathed to the Griffith Institute by Jaroslav Černý in his will (Černý MSS 19.71).
Some additional material remained in the possession of Professor Černý's widow Mrs Marie Sargant (née Hloušková), which following her death in 1991 passed to Černý's stepdaughters, Professor Naomi E. Sargant, Lady McIntosh (1933-2006), and Mrs Anna Allot (1930-).
Additional correspondence presented by Dr Jiřina Růžová was donated to her by Mrs Anna Allot for the preparation of her biography of Professor Černý.
Additional scrapbook presented by Hana Navratilova. Černý gave the book to Lady Naomi MacIntosh, Marie Černý’s daughter, who gave it to Miroslav Verner as a personal gift; thus it went to Prague. Verner donated it to Navratilova on 9 September 2024.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The estate of Jaroslav Černý. Some additional material presented by Professor Naomi E. Sargant, Lady McIntosh (Černý's stepdaughter) in 1992.
Remaining additional material presented by Mrs Anna Allot (Černý's stepdaughter) in 2011.
Selected family correspondence presented by Dr Jiřina Růžová in May 2016.
Family photographs and varia presented by Mrs Anna Allott in October and November 2016, March 2017, and March 2021.
Additional correspondence, notes and memoranda by Dr Jiřina Růžová in August 2021.
Additional notebook presented by Hana Navratilova in September 2024.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Notebooks, notes, card indexes, copies of inscriptions, a corpus of transcribed hieratic ostraca and papyri, photographs, correspondence, and personal items.
- Series 1 to 4, 6, 7 contain photographs, copies, transcriptions and translations of Egyptian texts, and photographs of objects and sites.
- Series 5 contains articles and lectures, some unpublished.
- Series 5 and 10 contain notes on Egyptian history.
- Series 8, 14, 22, 24, 26 contain notes and indexes on lexicography and grammar and card indexes for a late Egyptian and general hieroglyphic dictionary.
- Series 17 contains notebooks with transcriptions of texts from ostraca, graffiti, papyri and other monuments. There is a card index of ostraca with references to notebooks in series 28.
- Series 18 and 23 contain Coptic notes and a card index for Coptic grammar.
- Series 25 contains data on Egyptian personal names.
- Series 33 is an etymological card index.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Mostly kept as received. Arranged in 49 series:
- Correspondence (Series 21) has been arranged in alphabetical order.
- Series 47 - condolence letters to Mrs Černý, arranged alphabetically.
- Series 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24 and 24A, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 45, 46 are thematic/problem-oriented, other series (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 16, 28) are source-oriented and contain collections of data pertaining to individual artifacts of Egyptian material and written culture.
- Series 31 is an index.
- Series 19 and 39-44 are varia.
- Series that contain texts and other data from individual monuments or sites are arranged according to the Topographical Bibliography [TopBib].
- Objects from museums are catalogued under present location arranged in an alphabetical list of museums and usually a separate list of private collections.
- Series 48 is a postcard album.
- Series 49 is a photograph album.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Property of the Griffith Institute. Access to correspondence is subject to prior approval by the Archivist. No restrictions for rest.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford.
Language of material
- Ancient Egyptian
- Czech
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
Script of material
- Coptic
- Egyptian hieratic
- Egyptian hieroglyphs
- Latin
Language and script notes
There are notes for hieratic palaeography, hieroglyphic transcriptions, occasional use of Egyptological conventional transliteration.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Mostly without problems. Parts of correspondence on fragile airmail paper and lower-quality paper.
Working with card indexes requires returning cards in their proper sequence.
Finding aids
Catalogue and a correspondence handlist.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
These are originals except where indicated otherwise in itemised description.
Existence and location of copies
- Copies of Černý MSS 3.595, 3.627, 13.23, 13.30, 15.215A, 15.220, 19.64 (Černý's own bibliography), 20.1, 21.272, 21.277, 21.324, 21.707, 21.712, 21.732, 21.1014, 21.1526. Select copies of notebooks, series 17, notebooks not identified. Varied notes from the Coptic Etymological dictionary. In Departmental archives and library of the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures, Prague.
- Photocopies of some Černý MSS (mostly of notebooks and related to IFAO ostraca) at the IFAO, Cairo.
Related units of description
Publication note
- Publication details indicated in Černý catalogue, under individual series or subseries entries.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
NRA catalogue reference
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Digital object metadata
Filename
Griffith_Institute_photograph_Egyptologists_101_06_Cerny.jpg
Latitude
Longitude
Media type
Image
Mime-type
image/jpeg