Roman Society Photographic Collection
The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, or Roman Society, was founded in London in 1911, and is still active today, with the aim of promoting “the study of the history, archaeology, and art of Italy and the Roman Empire” and engaging wider audiences with the culture of the ancient world. Central to their mission was the creation of an image library of photographs, lantern slides, and ready-made magic lantern lectures, available for loan or purchase by society members and partner institutions across the world. The British School at Rome holds a unique photographic archive of over 4,600 objects including lantern slides, glass and film negatives, visual reference catalogue on index cards, and lecture booklets from the foundation of the society.
The earliest images in the Roman Society Collection can be dated to the 1890s and were likely taken during the excavations of the Roman Forum, carried out by Italian archaeologist Giacomo Boni. The collection of lantern slides rapidly expanded in the 1920s and 30s to include images of ancient Roman architecture and art across Italy, Europe, and North Africa. They include archaeological sites and excavations, landscapes and city views, maps and plans, and reconstructions. Primarily documentary in nature, many lantern slides are valuable records of early excavations, and often provide the only evidence of buildings and objects that have since been destroyed, reconstructed, or displaced from their original contexts.
Over two-hundred lantern slides have been catalogued and digitized and represent key collecting areas of the original collection. Views of the Roman Forum comprise a large section, and document various phases of its excavation from the 1890s to 1930s. Ancient Roman architecture – theatres, arches, fora – across North Africa such as in Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia, also features prominently in the collection. Approximately one-hundred slides provide a rare view into the early excavations of the ancient port city of Ostia. These can be linked directly to the magic lantern lecture written by archaeologist Russell Meiggs, which he developed while on a Pelham scholarship at the BSR in 1925. This lantern lecture is one of twenty-two original lectures held in the BSR collections.
Prominent British archaeologists, classicists, and historians such as John Linton Myres, Jocelyn Toynbee, and Thomas Ashby (many of whom were also were fellows of the BSR) greatly contributed to the creation of the Roman Society lantern slide collection, often taking or commissioning photographs during their research and travels. Many women donated lantern slides to the Roman Society, and they are named in the annual reports and register of photographic negatives. Historian Agnes Muriel Clay, archaeologist P.B. Mudie Cooke, botanist Dorothy Alford, philanthropist Norah S. Clogstoun, and photographers Agnes and Dora Bulwer are only some examples of women - often leading scholars, artists, collectors, and travellers - that played an active role in the Society, contributing original research, collections of images, and lectures.
For a full description of the Roman Society collection see the catalogue here.
