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 Spiegelberg MSS.

Dates of creation of the material 1895 (squeezes), 1898-9 (diaries).

Extent 1 standard box and 1 large box.

2. Context

Name of creator Spiegelberg, Wilhelm (1870-1930).

Administrative and biographical history
German Egyptologist and Demotist. Born, Hanover, 1870. Died, Munich, 1930. Educated at the Universities of Strasbourg, Berlin and Paris, studying with J. Dümichen, A. Erman, and G. Maspero, respectively, 1888-92. Appointed Lecturer of Egyptology at Strasbourg University. He first concentrated on hieratic papyri especially the juristic texts, then on Coptic and Demotic studies, becoming one of the leading authorities in the field at that time. He published his acclaimed Coptic Dictionary, which was only superseded by W. E. Crum's work. Spiegelberg was a prolific author who wrote several hundred articles.
See Who Was Who in Egyptology (3rd ed. 1995), 400-2 fig. (portrait).

Custodial history (a) The diaries were given by Spiegelberg to Professor W. F. Edgerton. (b) Squeezes, no documentation.

Immediate source of acquisition (a) After Edgerton died Professor G. R. Hughes deposited the diaries in the Griffith Institute in 1970. (b) Squeezes, no documentation.

3. Content and structure

Scope and content Two diaries made in 1898-9 during the Marquis of Northampton's excavations at Thebes. Squeezes made of some scenes in TT11, 12, 20, 50, 157, and 163.

System of arrangement Kept as received.

4. Access and use

Legal status Property of the Griffith Institute.

Access conditions No restrictions.

Copyright conditions The diaries have joint copyright with The Oriental Institute, Chicago. The squeezes are exclusively copyright Griffith Institute, Oxford.

Language of material German.

Physical characteristics The bindings of the diaries are in a fragile condition and need to be handled carefully.

Finding aids Catalogue for the squeezes.

5. Allied materials area

Location of originals These are originals.

Existence of copies There are xeroxes of the diaries in The Oriental Institute, Chicago.

Related units of description Newberry MSS. PEN/G/IX/N.A (Northampton excavations).

Associated material Spiegelberg MSS. in The Oriental Institute, Chicago.

Publications One of the squeezes was published by W. Spiegelberg in Recueil de Travaux xxii (1900), 118-19, cf. 115-17, 120-5. Squeeze with the Harpist's song in TT163, now in London, British Museum, EA 53337, published by J. Assmann in JEA 65 (1979), 54-77 pls. ix, x.

(February 20, 2004)