WCP6032

Letter (WCP6032.6981)

[1]1

Dep[artmen]t of Ethnography,

BRITISH MUSEUM

LONDON, W.C.1

13. 9. [19]462.

Dear Sir,

I thank you for your kind offer of ancient stone & bone implements from the U[nited]. S[tates]. [of] A[merica].

You are right in supposing that we have a large collection*3 of stone arrowheads from [the] U[nited]. S[tates]. [of] A[merica]. These are mostly documented as to the particular states from which they came, but not the exact sites. Your collection may include specimens which would supplement ours, either in types or in documentary data of origin, ‘gisement,’4 etc[etera].

[2]

Are you in a position to bring them up for inspection, or would it mean a visit to Bournemouth by myself or a colleague?

And do you know anything more than the states from which they came?

I am pretty sure we should be glad to accept the bone scrapers, especially if information on provenance can be obtained.

I understand from the Keeper of British & Med[iaeval]. Antiquities5 that no official publication of the Mildenhall Treasure6 is likely for some time; but a short account is due to appear in the Journal of Roman Studies7 later this year.

Yours faithfully, | H. J. Braunholtz [signature]

(Keeper).

1
The letter is written on the headed notepaper of the British Museum. The royal coat of arms appears in the top LH corner. The page is numbered [WP16/2/10] in pencil in the top RH corner.
2

Year deduced from birth and death dates of the author.

3.

3
Note written sideways in the LH margin "Several thousand".
4
Field or deposit (Fr.)
5
The Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum was formed in 1866 with Augustus Wollaston Franks as Keeper. The Department of Ethnography was set up as a separate department in 1946.
6
A major hoard of highly decorated Roman silver tableware from the fourth-century AD, found in 1942 whilst ploughing a field at West Row, near Mildenhall in the English county of Suffolk. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1946 and the first brief, summary catalogue of the find was published soon after: Brailsford, J. W. (1947) The Mildenhall Treasure, a provisional handbook, London, Trustees of the British Museum.
7

Notice of publication of The Mildenhall Treasure, a provisional handbook, (see Endnote 7) given in The Journal of Roman Studies (1948), Vol. 38, p. 173.

9.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP6032.6981)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP6032,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 19 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6032