The Ure Museum’s archive is particularly relevant to the history of archaeology, as it evidences archaeological fieldwork (notebooks including lists of workers employed, permits, accounts, diaries, catalogues and correspondence) and correspondence from excavation workers in Greece. Other correspondence highlights early 20th century research networks, particularly those relevant to Greece and Italy. The Museum’s collection of gemcasts, paper squeezes and casts is physical evidence of the reception of antiquity in the UK. In addition, the Museum archive holds documents relating to the teaching of Classics and archaeology in the UK.
The Museum’s archive evidences the history of collections, with receipts and accounts for purchases of artefacts and details of artefact acquisition within the correspondence in the archive. It also has historic catalogues of the collections reflecting acquisitions histories. The archive also includes notebooks of museum visits made by our founders, Annie and Percy Ure, that detail collections at a particular moment in time (1920s/30s) in museums in Europe that may have been affected by the Second World War.
Recent projects have explored links between art, archaeology, classics and publishing, exemplified in our Winckelmania and Allen Seaby exhibitions.