The library holds a number of archive collections, comprising records of institutions and papers of individuals connected with the Middle East and Asia. The collections date mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries.
We are currently working hard ingesting the details of these collections to the University Library's archive collection catalogue, Archive Search. Meanwhile, if you would like to see a list of a certain collection, please email the librarian at librarian@ames.cam.ac.uk.
Here is a list of our archive collection. Please refer to the relevant section below to read more about each collection.
John Brough was born in Dundee, 31 August 1917. He was educated at Dundee High School; Edinburgh University, MA, 1939, DLitt, 1945; and St John's College, Cambridge, BA, 1941, MA, 1945. He worked in agriculture, 1940-4. He was appointed as a research fellow at St John's College, 1945-8, and Assistant Keeper in the Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts at the British Museum, 1944-6, where he worked on the catalogue of Sanskrit and Prakrit manuscripts. He joined the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, as a Lecturer in Sanskrit, 1946-8, and Professor of Sanskrit and Head of the Department of India, Pakistan and Ceylon, 1948-67. He was Professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge University, 1967-84, and a fellow of St John's College. He married Marjorie Allan Robertson. He died in a road accident near his home in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 9 January 1984.
The collection comprises 10 boxes of correspondence and papers, 1946-83, including books, articles, lectures, book reviews, notes and correspondence.
The Library also holds a collection of Brough's microfilms of Sanskrit texts, comprising 1 box (uncatalogued)
Stanley Cook was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, 12 April 1873. He was educated at Wyggeston School, Leicester, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, BA, 1894, MA, 1899. He was a member of the editorial staff of the Encyclopaedia Biblica, 1896-1903, and an editorial adviser to the Encyclopaedia Britannica on Biblical subjects. He also edited the publications of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1902-32. He returned to Gonville and Caius College as a college lecturer in Hebrew, 1904-32, and Comparative Religion, 1912-20. He was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University, 1932-8. He married Annette Bell, who died in 1942. He died in Cambridge, 26 September 1949.
The collection of papers, dating from 1891-1939, comprises one box of mainly notebooks and undergraduate notes.
Isaline Horner was born in Walthamstow, 30 March 1896. She was educated at Prior's Field, Surrey, and Newnham College, Cambridge, BA, 1917, MA, 1934. She remained at Newnham College as Assistant Librarian, 1918-20, and Acting Librarian, 1920-1. She gave up her post to travel in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India and Burma (Myanmar), where she became interested in Buddhism, 1921-3. She returned to Newnham College as Librarian and fellow, 1923-36; Sarah Smithson Research Fellow, 1928-31; associate, 1931-59 and 1962-76; and associate fellow, 1939-49. She also served on the Governing Body, 1939-49, and gave a donation for the building of the Horner Library, 1961-2. She lived and worked in Manchester, 1936-43, and London, 1943-81, and continued to travel extensively in Ceylon, India and Burma. She was Honorary Secretary of the Pali Text Society, 1942-59, and President and Honorary Treasurer, 1959-81. She was awarded the OBE, 1980. She lived with her companion Elsie Butler, 1926-59. She died in London, 25 April 1981.
The collection mainly comprises manuscripts, articles, book reviews, lectures, notes, diaries, correspondence and photographs for 1903 - 1980.
In addition the collection includes the following family papers: Isaline Blew, letters, 1922, 1931-3; Elsie Butler (1885-1959), correspondence and papers, 1933-59; Anne Horner (d. 1943), letters, 1917-18, 1921-3, 1939; Frith Horner (1894-1917), photograph albums and a postcard, 1903, 1914-17; Leonard Horner (1861-1946), photograph albums, letters, and notes on family history, undated, 1884-5, 1914, 1923; Horner family, funeral sermon, 1744, invitation, 1893, investment accounts, 1909-15, and photographs, 1897-1940; Williams family, coats of arms, undated, 1764.
It is housed in 16 boxes and the following oversize items: three volumes, three rolls, one file, one sheet and two framed pictures.
The Library also holds a robe and a scroll presented to Isaline Horner by the Nava Nalanda Maha Vihara (New Nalanda Monastery). The boxes used to store Frith Horner's letters and the envelopes have been retained.
Laurence Lockhart was born in London, 9 July 1890, and brought up in South Africa. He was educated at Charterhouse; Pembroke College, Cambridge, BA, 1913; and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, PhD, 1935. He worked for the Foreign Office during the First World War and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in Mexico, 1919-26, and Persia (Iran), 1926-30. He returned to the London office of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (from 1935, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company), 1930-9, and studied in his spare time for his PhD, 1930-5. He served with Royal Air Force Intelligence, 1940-4, and the Foreign Office Research Department, 1944-5. He returned to work for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, 1946-8. He was a talented photographer and he took an extensive series of photographs of Persia, 1920s-50s. He retired to England, settling in Buckinghamshire, 1948, and Cambridge, 1953, where he concentrated on research in eighteenth century Persian history. He married Cicely Sylvia Farmer, who died in 1959. He died in Barrington, Cambridgeshire, 3 May 1975.
The collection, housed in two boxes, mainly comprises articles, lectures, notes and correspondence from 1936 - 1969
The Library also holds a collection of Lockhart's photographs of Persia, the Middle East, North Africa, South America and Europe, comprising 17 albums, 14 boxes of negatives and 1 cabinet of loose prints and negatives.
The Pali Text Society was founded by Thomas Rhys Davids in 1881. Its main object was to translate and edit Pali manuscripts in order to make the canonical texts and commentaries of Theravada Buddhism available in English. It was also responsible for the publication of a Pali-English dictionary, 1921-5, and an annual journal, 1882-1927. A new edition of the dictionary was compiled by Dr Margaret Cone, lately of this Faculty, and published in three parts: Part I, A-Kh (2001, revised 2006 and 2015); Part II, G-N (2010, revised 2013); Part III, P-Bh (2020, revised 2021).
The collection comprises seven boxes of records, spanning the years 1881-1980.
Thomas Rhys Davids was the son of Thomas William Davids, an ecclesiastical historian and pastor of Lion Walk Congregational Church, Colchester, Essex.
Caroline Rhys Davids was the daughter of John Foley, vicar of Wadhurst, Sussex, and Caroline Elizabeth Foley (née Windham). She had a brother, Charles Windham Foley, a solicitor at Morgan and Co, Calcutta, India, and a sister, Mary Cecilia Foley. Through her father, John Foley, the son of John Foley, rector of Holt, Worcestershire, and grandson of Robert Foley, vicar of Mordiford, Herefordshire, she was connected to the Foley family of Witley Court, Worcestershire. Through her mother, Caroline Elizabeth Foley (née Windham), she was a member of the Windham family of Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk.
The collection (totalling 30 boxes and four volumes) comprises the papers, dating from 1722-1978, of:
The Library also holds a collection of Rhys Davids' photographs of family and friends, comprising 3 boxes of negatives and prints (uncatalogued).
Henry Stumbles was born in Lewisham, ca. 1873. He joined the Tibetan Pioneer Mission, established by Annie Royle Taylor, and was based in Kalimpong, 1894-5. He was educated at Edinburgh University, MB and Chb, 1902, and MD, 1910; Durham University, Bachelor of Hygiene and Diploma of Public Health, 1910; Strasbourg and Paris. He practised as a doctor at Amble, Northumbria, 1902-11, and Hove, Sussex, 1911-15. He died in Hove, 2 October 1915
The collection, housed in a single box, mainly comprises a manuscript, lectures, press cuttings and photographs, dating from 1895-1915.
Bertram Thomas was born in Easton-in-Gordano, near Bristol, 13 June 1892. He was educated privately and was a fellow commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge, PhD. He worked in the Civil Service, 1908-14. He served with the North Somerset Yeomanry in Belgium, 1914-15, and the Somerset Light Infantry in Mesopotamia (Iraq), 1916-18. He was an Assistant Political Officer in Mesopotamia, 1918-22, and Assistant British Representative in Trans-Jordan (Jordan), 1922-4. He was appointed as Finance Minister and Wazir to the Sultan of Muscat and Oman (Oman), 1925-32. During this time he made a number of expeditions into the desert, becoming the first European to cross the Rub' Al Khali (Empty Quarter), 1930-1. He married Bessie Hoile, 1933. He was Information Officer in Bahrain, 1942-3; Director of the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies, Palestine, 1943-6, and Lebanon, 1947-8; and an adviser to Shell Group, 1948-9. He was awarded the OBE, 1920, and CMG, 1949. He died in England, 27 December 1950.
The collection, housed in nine boxes, mainly comprises manuscripts, articles, book reviews, lectures, notes, correspondence and maps dating from 1919-50.
The Library also holds a collection of Thomas's photographs of Mesopotamia and Arabia, comprising 1 box (uncatalogued), and a video copy of a film made by Thomas in Arabia, 1928-9 (also available in DVD format).
The Faculty also has a portrait of Thomas by Walter Westley Russell.
This modest collection, housed in two boxes, mainly comprises drafts of a book, articles, lectures, notes and correspondence from 1929-61.