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Lamb, Winifred, 1894-1963 (archaeologist and museum curator)

 Person

Biography

Lamb participated in excavations at Mycenae, Sparta and Macedonia in Greece and then directed excavations at Thermi on the Greek island of Lesbos 1929-1933. She excavated at Kusara in Turkey in 1936 and1937 and contributed to the foundation of the British School of Archaeology at Ankara, acting as its Honorary Secretary 1948-1957. Lamb began work in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge in 1918. She was Honorary Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam from 1920-1958. In this role she appraised and catalogued the collections, arranged new displays - particularly of prehistoric and Cycladic material - and augmented the museum's holdings through acquisition, including donating antiquities, especially pottery and bronzes, from her own collection. She also published and lectured extensively.

Found in 10 Collections and/or Records:

 File

Excavations at Mycenae Daybook 1922, 1922

 File
Reference Code: GBR/3437/MCNE/1/1/14
Scope and Contents

Director's Daybook for 1922, focused on excavation of the Chamber Tombs., compiled by A. J. B. Wace, W. Lamb (based on handwriting) and possibly further contributors. Records arrivals and departures and includes sketch plans.
Lists of finds for Tombs 526, 529, 519, 530, 525, 518, 520, 514, 521, 523, 524, 532, 512, Tomb of Aegisthus, Epano Phournos Tholos, Perfect Tholos and Tomb of Clytemnestra.

Dates: 1922
 Item

Letter from James Stewart in Balikesir re their progress on the excavation of a cemetery at Yortan and on W. Lamb's dig at Kusura, Sandıklı, Afyon, 24 to 26 May 1936

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/3437/AJBW/2/1/24/24
Scope and Contents

Dated pp. 1-4 'May 24', pp. 5-8 'May 25', pp. 8-12 'May 26', 1936. Written mostly in Balikesir but by P. 5, Stewart is in Kusura with Lamb's excavation, sometime after the 29th May.
Stewart gives an extremely detailed account of one week excavating graves at Yortan, in the valley of the river Bakırçay (Kaikos/Κάϊκος), north western Turkey.
He then gives a brief summary of progress so far at Kusura (Afyon).

Dates: 24 to 26 May 1936
 Item

Letter from James Stewart in Istanbul re personal contacts and Near Eastern prehistoric chronology, 1936-01-20

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/3437/AJBW/2/1/24/13
Scope and Contents Addressed "Istanbul', dated 20 January 1936. Stewart writes with enthusiasm about his application for the Jerusalem job and also about the Benaki gold bowl and whether it is genuine or not. Athens has grown on him and he has enjoyed the company of Peter Megaw and Walton and praises Helen Thomas's expertise in Bronze Age pottery. He also writes warmly of Hamid Zubain but lists all the fTurkish frontier areas for which one cannot gain an excavation permit; even for Anatolia the process is time...
Dates: 1936-01-20
 Item

Letter from James Stewart in Istanbul re plans for trial excavation and an Asia Minor itinerary, 1936-01-02

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/3437/AJBW/2/1/24/9
Scope and Contents

Addresed 'Wagon-lits, Galata, Istanbul', dated 2 January 1936. He has met with Dr Schecle and Karl Bittel. There are rising political tensions between Italy and Turkey. Gaining an excavation permit is fraught with dificulties. Stewart would like to drop a test trench to 'hunt' for Jortan (Yortan) or another site 'at or near Balikesir.' He sketches a possible itinerary for the next months, including visiting W. Lamb at Afyon. He has visited Haghia Sofia and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

Dates: 1936-01-02
 Item

Letter from James Stewart in Kusura, Sandıklı, Afyon, re excavation publication and funding., 1936-07-23

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/3437/AJBW/2/1/24/27
Scope and Contents

Addressed 'Kusura', dated 23 July 1936. Stewart writes of sending an interim reports to Megaw re funding and discusses potential outlets for publication of his work. W. Lamb is giving him the right to publish the cemetery he excavated at Kusura. There follows a detailed description of his work on these 14 graves at Kusura, in particular the pottery finds.

Dates: 1936-07-23
 Item

Letter from James Stewart in Troy re Balikesir and Troy pottery sherd comparisons, 1936-04-26

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/3437/AJBW/2/1/24/17
Scope and Contents Addressed 'Troy', dated 26 April 1936. Stewart has finished comparing sherds from the Balikesir plain sites and Troy and describes his analysis and interpretations of the results. Eleanor has bought another - Greek islands? - embroidery. He writes of his hopes to excavate in Cyprus (Vounos or Larnaca) next year. Professor Myres has visited Troy. Stewart has some pots (ranging in date from Bronze Age to Byzantine) for restoration for Louis Clarke (then curator of the Museum of Archaeology...
Dates: 1936-04-26
 Item

Letter from James Stewart re pots for Cambridge collections and the potential rammifications of the Abyssinia Crisis on excavating in Turkey, 1936-05-19

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/3437/AJBW/2/1/24/21
Scope and Contents Dated 19 May 1936. Probably written in Istanbul. The Balikesir dig will in fact proceeed and Bittel will contribute time and equipment to the endeavour. Stewart has purchsed some pots for Cambridge, one of which he discusses in detail at the end of the letter. Dikaios is also sending material from Cyprus to Cambridge. International politics (Abyssinia Crisis) may make make several excavation sites off limits next year, including Troy. He and Eleanor have bought the Armenian embroidery at...
Dates: 1936-05-19
 File

Mycenae 1921 W. Lamb, 1921

 File
Reference Code: GBR/3437/MCNE/1/1/11
Scope and Contents

Excavation Notebook for 1921 compiled by W. Lamb for the Ramp House and Palace. Contains daily excavation notes and sketch plans, including an annotated sketch in colour pencil on f. 8v of the floor of the Palace court.
AJBW has also used the notebook on ff. 14-15 for notes on whole pots in Nauplion Museum, Cyclopean Terrace Building and Tomb 514.

Dates: 1921
 File

Mycenae 1922 W. Lamb, 1922

 File
Reference Code: GBR/3437/MCNE/1/1/17
Scope and Contents 1922 Excavation Notebook compiled by W. Lamb for Chamber Tombs 515, 520, 518, 525, 523, 514, 526, 519, 527, 537, 533 and trial trenches on Kalkani Hill. Indexed at the front. Includes plans, diagrams, drawings of pottery sherds (pp. 32-33), a contour map (p. 52) and section drawings of the blocked up doorways to chamber tombs prior to their opening (pp. 18, 38, 39, 41, 48-51). Many diagrams were pasted in, having been first drawn on plain paper or tracing paper (see pp. 32-33). Small Finds...
Dates: 1922
 Fonds

Winifred Lamb: work-related papers

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/2911/LAM
Scope and Contents

This small collection of Winifred Lamb's papers consists of ten boxes of research notebooks, newscutting books, and photographs, mostly from the 1920s and 1930s. There are also a few printed items and a card index relating to her archaeological research. Many items are undated.

Dates: 1914 - 1963
Conditions Governing Access: This collection is available to researchers at Newnham College Archive

Additional filters:

Type
Archival Object 9
Collection 1
 
Subject
Cyprus (island) 2
Istanbul (inhabited place) 2
Troy (deserted settlement) 2
Archaeology 1
Greece (nation) 1
∨ more