Identity area
Reference code
Burton, H. MSS
Title
Date(s)
- 1922-1933 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
British archaeologist and photographer. Born, Stamford 1879. Died, Asyut 1940. Began his photographic career in Florence with the art historian R. Cust. He was then engaged as a excavator at Thebes by Theodore Davis between 1910-14. Then from 1914 onwards he worked for the rest of his career as a photographer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. His task was to record many of the royal and private tombs at Thebes. Between 1922 and 1933 he was lent by the Metropolitan Museum to Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter to make a photographic record during the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Archival history
Part of the Carter bequest to his niece Miss Phyllis Walker in 1939.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Miss Walker donated the Carter MSS in several groups in 1945, 1946, 1959, and 1972. Exchange of photographs in 1951 with Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to complete gaps in both sets.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Photographic records made during the excavation of the Tomb of Tutankhamun, consisting of approximately 1400 black and white glass negatives. 10 albums of original prints made from these negatives for Carter, and original prints made for and kept with the object card index for the excavation.
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, Oxford, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
No problems.
Finding aids
Catalogue.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Griffith Institute, Oxford (TAA i.5.1-2024, i-xcvi), and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Existence and location of copies
2 sets of modern negatives made from the originals (TAA iii.4-5), 2 sets of modern prints ( TAA iii.6-7), scans made from negatives (TAA iii.17), all in Griffith Institute.
Related units of description
Publication note
- See web publication http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/discoveringTut/ (Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation).
- The Tutankhamun photographs have been used extensively in numerous publications, most notably Howard Carter's publication of the tomb, and several fascicles of the Griffith Institute’s Tutankhamun Tomb Series.