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Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

DURHAM, Mary Edith (1863-1944): Albanian ballads

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 1446 MS 48

Held at: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

Title: DURHAM, Mary Edith (1863-1944): Albanian ballads

Date(s): 1905

Level of description: collection

Extent: 3 notebooks

Name of creator(s): Durham | Mary Edith | 1863-1944 | Balkan traveller and author

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Mary Edith Durham, artist, anthropologist and traveller, born in London on 8 December 1863; educated at Bedford College, 1878-1882; became an artist, and trained at the Royal Academy Schools. Following illness and at nearly forty years old she travelled to the Balkans and worked as a political missionary. She travelled to the Balkans annually, 1900-1914. When uprisings occurred, in 1903 and 1909, she provided medical aid and food. Following the end of the Second World War, Durham was offered a permanent home in Albania by the Albanian Government. She refused, choosing to remain independent and settled in London writing books and articles. She died in London on 15 November 1944.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Mary Edith Durham, 1905, comprise Albanian ballads collected between May and June 1905, including Voyvoda Milosh of Drobnjak and the maiden. MS 47/2 also includes a basic Albanian/English dictionary.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: Albanian and English

System of arrangement:

Arranged in original order.

Conditions governing access:

Appointments are necessary for all visits; please contact the archivist by email to arrange; a fee of £10 is payable by all visitors except Fellows and Members; membership details can be found on the RAI web site; access to material referring to the most recent thirty years is restricted; some material is very fragile and may not be available for view; a few items are of restricted or forbidden access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies and scans for personal research only may be arranged at the discretion of the archivist; charges apply; in all cases forms governing use of copies must be signed; use of digital cameras is not allowed.

Finding aids:

Hand list available in the Institute's Reading Room.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Unknown.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Samantha Velumyl.