Identity area
Reference code
Martin MSS
Title
Date(s)
- 1966-2022 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
47 boxes, 5 outsize boxes and 1 package
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
British Egyptologist and Chartered Librarian. Born, South Ockendon, 1934. Died, Cambridge 2022. Chartered Librarian (ALA), 1958-60. Cataloguer, British National Bibliography, 1957-60. BA in Ancient History, University College London, 1963. MA, PhD and Litt. D, Cambridge University. Budge Research Fellow in Egyptology at Christ's College, Cambridge, 1966-70. Lecturer in Egyptology, University College London, 1970-78. Reader in Egyptian Archaeology, 1978-87. Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology, 1988-1993. Assisted at Egypt Exploration Society (EES) excavations: Buhen, Sudan, 1963. Saqqara, 1964-68, site director 1970-74, field director 1975-98. Field director of the Epigraphic Mission, Amarna, 1969 and 1980. Saqqara, Leiden excavations, 1999-2000, Joint field director, 1998-2001, field director, 2002. Cambridge Expedition to the Valley of the Kings, Thebes, field director 2005, joint field director 2014 onwards.
Publications include: Egyptian Administrative and Private-Name Seals, 1971; The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna, vol. 1, 1974, vol. 2, 1989; The Tomb of Hetepka, 1979; The Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara, 1981; (with V. Raisman) Canopic Equipment in the Petrie Collection, 1984; Scarabs, Cylinders and other Ancient Egyptian Seals, 1985; The Tomb Chapels of Paser and Raia, 1985; Corpus of Reliefs of the New Kingdom, vol. 1, 1987; (with A. El-Khouly) Excavations in the Royal Necropolis at El-Amarna, 1987; The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb, 1989; The Hidden Tombs of Memphis, 1991 (German edn 1994); Bibliography of the Amarna Period and its aftermath, 1991; The Tomb of Tia and Tia, 1997; The Tombs of Three Memphite Officials, 2001; Stelae from Egypt and Nubia in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 2005; Private Stelae of the Early Dynastic Period from the Royal Cemetery at Abydos, 2011; The Tomb of Maya and Meryt, I, 2012; Tutankhamun’s Regent, 2016. Festschrift: Another Mouthful of Dust, ed J. van Dijk, 2016.
Archival history
Part of the Martin bequest to Christ's College, Cambridge, 2022.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Presented by Christ's College, Cambridge, in August 2022.
The retrieval, sorting, and top-level cataloguing of the Martin MSS was conducted by Dr Yvonne Harpur, assisted by Mr Paolo Scremin. Dr Harpur negotiated the transfer of the Martin MSS from Christ's College to the Griffith Institute, assisted by Mr Paolo Scremin.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Complete working papers, including notebooks, notes, card indexes, drawings of scenes and inscriptions, plans, slides, photographs, and correspondence.
Research papers
Includes relevant notes, concordances, photocopies, letters, emails, negatives, photographs, and small-scale tracings.
- Scarabs and seals.
- Brooklyn Museum scarabs and seals.
- New Kingdom reliefs.
- Valley of the Kings.
- El-Lisht.
- Tutankhamun shabtis.
- Amarna Royal Tomb/Necropolis.
- Research for articles.
- Photographs, letters and newspaper cuttings.
- Miscellaneous papers.
- Three photograph albums.
Slides
10,000+ slides, the majority created by Martin, 1960s onwards. They include archaeological sites in Egypt, reliefs and objects, rephotographed publication illustrations, and commercially-produced slides.
Framed watercolour
Watercolour painting, perhaps by Annie Quibell. The upper part of an angel is probably inspired by (or copied from) one of the paintings in the Monastery of Apa Jeremias at Saqqara.
KV57: tomb of Horemheb, Valley of the Kings
Includes research papers, a small box of photographs, and Martin's epigraphic drawings of Horemheb's sarcophagus.
Original epigraphic drawings and scanned reductions of originals
- Epigraphic drawings of loose Memphite blocks used for Vols. I and II of Martin's Corpus of Memphite Blocks. Vol. I, published. Vol. II, in preparation (info. August 2022).
- Reduced line drawings of reliefs from published Memphite New Kingdom tombs, including the tomb of Horemheb and possibly the tomb of Maya.
- Drawings without labels, not yet identified—some Amarna.
Large photographs
Includes the Step Pyramid complex and Unas Causeway, some taken from the summit of the Step Pyramid, or perhaps aerial photographs. Some show tomb reliefs.
Miscellaneous
- PhD dissertation, G. T. Martin (two bound volumes on scarabs and seals. The second volume has been published. The first volume is not published).
- Brooklyn Museum manuscript (bound unpublished manuscript for scarabs and seals in the Brooklyn Museum).
- Three photograph albums (photographs of sites, buildings and street scenes mostly in and around Cairo in 1942. The albums were given or bequeathed to Martin).
- Manuscript ("The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb. A Palaeography (Catalogue of Signs)". Unfinished).
- Photocopied line drawings (these are probably duplicates of a published set of line drawings from a known New Kingdom Memphite tomb or are from Vol. I of Martin's Corpus of New Kingdom Memphite Blocks).
- Three bound volumes (miscellaneous postcards, photographs, etc.).
- Amarna Royal Tomb Project (selected material, copies of graffiti, ostraca, etc., represents a small section of the information gathered by the team when Martin was Field Director).
- Memphite New Kingdom Prosopography (card index with the names and other details of known tomb owners and other officials mentioned in reliefs, paintings, statuary, etc., in or from around the Memphite cemeteries).
- Photographs, newspaper cuttings, letters etc. (including a letter from Lord Mountbatten of Burma, also newspaper cuttings from international papers, primarily referring to the discoveries of Horemheb and Maya and the relationship of these officials to Tutankhamun).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Kept as received.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Property of the Griffith Institute. No restrictions.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Drawings and plans stored rolled.
Finding aids
Preliminary top-level catalogue prepared by Dr Yvonne Harpur.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
These are originals.
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
- The top-level record presented here is based on the preliminary top-level catalogue created by Dr Yvonne Harpur.