The Ure Museum’s archive has a significant collection of correspondence from Greek, British and other archaeologists working in Greece, with an unsurprising emphasis on the early 20th century, when the museum was founded and the collection developed. This correspondence reflects the local political, social and economic context of the period, particularly in Greece, but also other European countries.
The Museum’s Egyptian and Cypriot antiquities were primarily excavated during British colonial occupation of Egypt and Cyprus so this information is also relevant to imperial histories. The colonial history of part of the Ure Museum’s Egyptian collection is charted in the digital exhibition “Egypt in Reading: Stories from the Liverpool Collection“. The Museum’s archive is relevant to University, local and county histories, however, on account of the extensive relations Annie Ure and Percy Ure had with local archaeologists, collectors and other scholars and enthusiasts. Some of these contributors are detailed in our “Hidden Women at the Ure” exhibit.
Percy Ure facilitated local excavations at Lowbury Hill, Culham and Milton, as part of the development of the Museum of Archaeology and History that predated the Museum of Greek Archaeology at Reading. The Ure Museum archives reflect Annie and Percy Ure’s engagements with these local excavations.