from the special collections of the Fryer Library
When three new artefacts arrived at the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum at UQ this year, the Fryer Library also gained a fascinating insight into the life, work, and times of an archaeologist involved in their excavation.
The South Gallery at the Rockefeller Museum
1. View of the Rockefeller Museum

The J.H. Iliffe collection, an extensive collection of photographs, research, correspondence, diaries, and archaeological field notes, covers the career of John Henry ‘Harry’ Iliffe (b1903-d1960). Iliffe was a noted British archaeologist and the first keeper of the Palestine Archaeological Museum, now the Rockefeller Museum, in Jerusalem (1931-1948).

His papers not only preserve his expertise in Sigillata Wares and details of the Kouklia excavations in Cyprus, the source of the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum artefacts, they also capture the establishment of the Rockefeller Museum as well as the political climate and daily life in Palestine under the British Mandate.

 

2. Jerusalem old city
3. "How we get our bread in Jerusalem"

The detailed field diaries and notes from Kouklia preserve Iliffe’s involvement in the archaeological excavation of the ancient site of Paphos. In addition, it provides an unparalleled opportunity to discover more about the Limestone Head, Red Carinated Bowl, and Black Burnished Vase, which are now part of UQ’s antiquities collection. However, the value of the collection is not limited to telling the story of these artefacts.

Iliffe was the first director of the Palestine Archaeological Museum which was founded in 1930 to display important regional finds, following a donation of two million dollars by John Rockefeller, Jr. The exhibition in the South Gallery of the museum, which was planned by Iliffe, remains on display. 1 Iliffe’s papers capture the impressive building (designed by Austen St. Barbe Harrison) and a behind the scenes view of the museum’s work.

4. South Gallery at the Rockefeller Museum
5. John Henry Iliffe
6. Interior, Rockefeller Museum

Biographical newspapers cuttings also record the troubled political climate of the era. The opening of the museum was delayed due to the assassination of another British archaeologist and Iliffe himself was seriously wounded by gunfire in 1939. Among the photographs are many striking images taken by Iliffe of daily life in Palestine and the Trans-Jordan. Evidently a keen photographer, he entered amateur competitions in newspapers and photography magazines, illustrating the exotic near east for British readers.

1. The Israel Museum Jerusalem, 1995, ‘West meets East: The Story of the Rockefeller Museum’.

Retrieved August 2012 from http://www.imj.org.il/rockefeller/eng/Building.html

The J.H. Iliffe collection is the treasure of the month at the Fryer Library, in conjunction with a display at the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum which showcases the artefacts generously donated by Mr Iliffe’s family.

Elizabeth Alvey, Fryer Library

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