During the first half of the twentieth century, the pharmaceutical entrepreneur Sir Henry Wellcome amassed one of the largest collections of objects ever assembled.
The vast majority of his collection was purchased through agents at various auction houses and dealers.
Of his collection of over 1,000,000 objects, around 20,000 of them originated from Egypt and Sudan.
This talk will present an overview of Wellcome acquisition practices, his collection, and its distribution.
Dr Ken Griffin is the Curator of the Egypt Centre, Swansea University.
Prior to this, he was the Collections Access Manager at the museum. His association with the Egypt Centre first began in 2000 as a volunteer. Over the past two decades, he has been researching the collection, including publishing a number of the objects. Ken is a former lecturer in Egyptology and the coordinating tutor of Egyptology with the Department of Adult Continuing Education (DACE) at Swansea University. He has visited Egypt on over 60 occasions and, since 2010, has participated in fieldwork in Egypt and Sudan.
We have an exciting and diverse series of lectures in 2024
covering a wide range of topics and these are listed below
We are having two Zoom on-line meeting in April & Sept
Monday January 8th, 2pm
Tree Goddesses in Ancient Egypt
Dr Joanne Backhouse
February 12th, 2pm
Paddle Dolls in Ancient Egypt : Gaudy or Godly?
Megan Clark
March 11th, 2pm
Creatures of the Nile
Dr Gina Criscenzo-Laycock
Wednesday April 3rd Zoom 7pm
Wherever I Lay my Hat : The Grand Hotels of Egypt
Lee Young
13th May, 2pm
The Afterlives of Senenmut
Dr Campbell Price
June 10th, 2pm
'Nilotic' Scenes in the Art of the Prehistoric Aegean : Egyptian, Egyptianizing or Pure Pastiche?
Dr Gina Muskett
July 8th, 2pm
Egyptian International Relations in the Reign of Merenptah
Dr Roland Enmarch
August 12th, 2pm
The Assyrian Conquests of Egypt
Neil Stevenson
Wednesday Sept 4th Zoom 7pm
‘Better than the British Museum’
the Egyptian Collection of Sir Henry Wellcome
Dr Ken Griffin
October 14th, 2pm
Coffins, Masks and Mummy Cases of Greco-Roman Egypt
Dr Judith Corbelli
November 11th , 2pm
To be confirmed
Claire Ollett
December 9th , 2pm
AGM, Presidential Lecture & Christmas buffet
Dr Ashley Cooke
BOOK SALES
At each Society meeting held in Mayer Hall a selection of Egyptology books is available for sale at very reasonable prices.