Summary by Amara Thornton

Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) was a British traveller, archaeologist and political official, who is most well known for her participation in intelligence with the Arab Bureau during the First World War, her subsequent role as Political Advisor to the Cairo Peace Conference in 1919, and her role as the Director of Antiquities in Iraq from 1922 to 1926 and founder of the Museum of Antiquities (now Iraq Museum) in Baghdad.  Educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, in Modern History, Bell made her name as a noted traveller and mountaineer from the 1890s onwards, publishing several travel books before the First World War.

Newcastle University holds a large collection of Bell's letters, diaries and photographs showing her life and explorations in the Middle East. The University has also developed a comic book based on Bell's life and letters, as well as teachers' resources for schools.

Scope of collection:
photographs (inc. Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Balkans, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Canada and Bell's "personalia"), diaries (1877-1917), letters (1874-1926)

University Website: http://gertrudebell.ncl.ac.uk/
Archive website: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/gertrudebell/
Twitter: @GertrudeBellArc
Email: [email protected]

Founded in 1901, the British School at Rome joined the British School at Athens (est. 1886) as a centre for archaeologists, architects, artists and travellers to engage with the archaeology, architecture, art and history of Rome, Italy and beyond.  Originally housed in the Palazzo Odescalchi, in 1916 the BSR moved to its current premises, a converted Edwin Lutyens building originally designed as the British Pavilion in the 1911 International Exhibition.

One early BSR director was Thomas Ashby, who alongside Assistant Director Eugénie Sellers Strong presided over the School in early 20th century.  The archaeologist John Ward-Perkins, Director of the BSA just after WW2, also made an important contribution to archaeology in Italy through field surveys.

Archive projects include "Thomas Ashby and the First World War" and "Ashby and the Abruzzo".

Scope of collections:
Photographs, documents (inc. School administrative records, correspondence), maps, prints

Website: http://www.bsr.ac.uk/
Archives webpage: http://www.bsr.ac.uk/library/archive
Digital Collections website: www.bsr.ac.uk/library/digital-collections; http://www.bsrdigitalcollections.it/ 
Blog: britishschoolatrome.wordpress.com/category/library-archive/
Twitter: @the_bsr

Relevant contact:
Alessandra Giovenco, Archivist

Further Reading
Dyson, S. 2001. Eugenie Sellers Strong: Portrait of an Archaeologist.

Wallace-Hadrill, A. 2001. The British School at Rome: One Hundred Years. London: British School at Rome.