Griffith Institute Archive

Description of material

This description is based on the General International Standard Archival Description ISAD(G)

1. Identity statement

Reference code n/a

Title Cerný MSS.

Dates of creation of the material From about the mid-1920s to 1970.

Extent 49 boxes, 56 card index boxes, 8 packages, 4 rolls, 1 book, 1 album, 7 ringbinders, and 1 videotape.

2. Context

Name of creator Cerný, Jaroslav (1898-1970)

Administrative and biographical history
Czech Egyptologist. Born, Plzen 1898. Died, Oxford 1970. Studied at Charles University, Prague. Awarded scholarship to study hieratic ostraca in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Worked with Sir A. Gardiner on these ostraca as well as hieratic papyri. Lecturer in Egyptology, Charles University, Prague, 1929-46. Worked in Sinai resulting in his new edition of Gardiner and Peet, The Inscriptions of Sinai. Excavated at Deir el-Medîna, 1939-40. Appointed Edwards Professor of Egyptology, University College London, 1946-51. Professor of Egyptology, Oxford, 1951-65 (Emeritus, 1965-70). Worked in Nubia recording temple inscriptions at Amada, Gebel el-Shems, and Abû Simbel during the UNESCO campaign. Published extensively in the field of Egyptology including publications on palaeography, Ramesside period, religion, and late New Kingdom hieratic inscriptions.
See Who Was Who in Egyptology (3rd ed. 1995), 89-90.

Custodial history Bequeathed to the Griffith Institute by Jaroslav Cerný.

Immediate source of acquisition The estate of Jaroslav Cerný.

3. Content and structure

Scope and content Notebooks, notes, card index of Late Egyptian, copies of inscriptions, corpus of transcribed hieratic ostraca and papyri, photographs, correspondence and personal items.

System of arrangement Mostly kept as received. Correspondence has been arranged in alphabetical order.

4. Access and use

Legal status Property of the Griffith Institute.

Access conditions Access to correspondence is subject to prior approval by the Keeper of the Archive.

Copyright conditions Copyright Griffith Institute, Oxford.

Language of material English, French, German and other European languages.

Physical characteristics No problems.

Finding aids Catalogue.

5. Allied materials area

Location of originals These are originals, except where indicated in Cerný catalogue.

Existence of copies None.

Related units of description None.

Associated material Petrie MSS ('Legends copied from Album of photographs taken by W. M. Flinders Petrie of Egyptian objects in the Museums of Bologna, Florence, and Turin, April 1893. (Copied by J. Cerný, Oxford 1954).').

Publications Publication details indicated in Cerný catalogue.

Notes None.

(April 16, 2003)