Sir John Evans Centenary Project

Project Description:

Sir John Evans, 1823-1908, was a pioneering figure in the fields of prehistoric archaeology, numismatics and geology. He was a successful businessman with an extraordinary variety of interests, holding high offices in many learned societies. The Ashmolean Museum houses both Evans's artefact collection and the documentary archives relating to his activities. The Sir John Evans Centenary Project was instituted in 2003 by the Ashmolean Museum to fully document and catalogue the collection and archive of John Evans and to examine the international intellectual networks in which he participated. The archive was professionally catalogued for the Access to Archives website of The National Archives during the first year, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Leverhulme Trust funded a 1-year pilot and 3-year project on his collections, collecting activity and intellectual network. The main outcomes of the project were a conference, publication and website.

In late 2013, a short project is taking place to upgrade the website and provide an on-line searchable database of the Evans collection.