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Institute of Classical Studies

Bent Diaries


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 1500 Bent

Held at: Institute of Classical Studies

Title: Bent Diaries

Date(s): 1883-1898

Level of description: Collection (Fonds)

Extent: 25 notebooks

Name of creator(s): Bent | James Theodore | 1852-1897 | traveller and archaeologist
Bent | Mabel Virginia Anna | d 1929 | traveller and writer

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

James Theodore Bent; born Baildon, Yorkshire, 1852; educated at Malvern Wells, Repton School and Wadham College Oxford (BA 1875); married 1877 Mabel Virginia Anna, daughter of Robert Hall-Dare. Between 1877 and 1897 the Bents travelled extensively in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Russia, India the Persian Gulf, Central Africa, Abyssinia and the Arabian peninsula. Bent died in London in 1897, from pneumonia following on malarial fever, which developed after his return from Aden.
Publications: Theodore Bent:The Life of Garibaldi, 1881; The Cyclades, or Life amomg the Insular Greeks, 1885; The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland, 1892; The Sacred City of the Ethiopians, 1893; articles in the Archaeological Journal, the Journal of Hellenic Studies, the Journal of the Anthropological Institute. Mabel Bent: Southern Arabia, 1900 (contains extensive material from Theodore Bent's journals).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Diaries and notebooks of James Theodore and Mabel Virginia Anna Bent, 1883-1898, comprising:
Mabel Bent's diaries of visits to the Greek Islands, 1883-1884; Greece and Egypt, 1885; Constantinople [Istanbul] and the Greek Islands, 1886; Greece, 1887; Turkey and Russia, 1888; India and Persia [Iran], 1889 (3 volumes); Cilicia, Turkey, 1890; Central Africa (Mashonaland), 1891 (2 volumes); Hadramout, 1893-1895 (3 volumes); Suez, Kourbat and Athens, 1895-1896; Socotra, Yemen, 1896-1897; Greece and Egypt, 1898;
Theodore Bent's diary of visits to Hadramout, Yemen, 1893-94; Muscat, Dec 1894; Socotra, Yemen, Dec 1896-Mar 1897; notebook, containing Greek inscriptions, 1888; notebook on language in Socotra [1896-1897].

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Chronological

Conditions governing access:

By appointment only. Researchers wishing to consult the collection or seeking further information should first contact the Librarian.

Conditions governing reproduction:

A copying service is available, at the discretion of the Librarian, and subject to the condition of the originals.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

List, copy deposited in the National Register of Archives (NRA 35451)

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Library of the Societies for the Promotion of Hellenic and Roman Studies, exact date unknown [probably in the 1920s].

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Compiled by Alan Kucia as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Apr 2002


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
African cultures | National cultures
African history | National history
Ancient religions | Religions
Ancient scripts | Writing systems
Antiquities | Works of art | Arts
Antiquity | Ancient history | Historical periods
Arab culture | Islamic culture | National cultures
Arabic | Semitic languages
Diaries | Nonfiction | Prose | Literary forms and genres | Literature
Egyptology | Ancient civilizations | Ancient history | Historical periods
Epigraphy | Historical methods | History
European cultures | National cultures
Greek (classical) | Indo-european languages
Greek history | European history | National history
Roman history | European history | National history
Movable cultural property
Primary documents

Personal names
Bent | James Theodore | 1852-1897 | traveller and archaeologist
Bent | Mabel Virginia Anna | d 1929 | traveller and writer

Corporate names

Places
Adan | South Yemen | Yemen | Middle East
Athens | Greece | Western Europe | Europe
Cilicia | Turkey | Middle East
Hadramout | Yemen | Middle East
India | South Asia
Ionian Islands | Greece | Western Europe | Europe
Istanbul | Marmara | Turkey | Middle East
Mashonaland | Zimbabwe | Southern Africa
Muscat | Oman | Gulf States | Middle East
Russia | Eastern Europe
Socotra | Yemen | Middle East
Suez | Urban | Egypt | North Africa
Aden Protectorate x Adan
Crimea x Krym
Central Africa