The J. R. Sitlington Sterrett Collection of Archaeological Photographs
About this collection
This digital collection is part of a larger aggregate of five distinct collecting areas on antiquities, which include plaster casts, ancient coins, gems, and squeezes. Cornell University owns several collections of antiquities – originals and reproductions – from the ancient Mediterranean. Acquired mostly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, their primary purpose was to serve as hands-on material for teaching and research. Once housed on the ground floor of Goldwin Smith Hall, the University’s former Museum of Archaeology, they are now dispersed over several institutions, colleges, departments and buildings on campus.
Historical context
John Robert Sitlington Sterrett (1851-1914) was appointed Professor of Greek at Cornell in 1901. During the previous decades he had traveled throughout Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, studying the inscriptions, monuments, and historical geography of the region. Upon his arrival at Cornell he communicated his love of archaeological exploration to three students who, in 1907-8, undertook the "Cornell Expedition to Asia Minor and the Assyro-Babylonian Orient."
In 1918, Sterrett's widow gave his collection of archaeological photographs to the Cornell University Library, including hundreds of images taken by Sterrett's frequent companion in his travels, the pioneering archaeological photographer John Henry Haynes (1849-1910). The Sterrett collection also preserves photographs made by the Cornell Expedition of 1907-8.
Using the collection
For questions about this collection, contact the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at rareref@cornell.edu.
More information
- Collection steward
- Katherine Reagan, Ernest L. Stern '56 Curator, Rare Books & Manuscripts
- Metadata creation
- Natasha Bissonauth, PhD '17
- Funding
- Grants Program for Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences, awarded to Benjamin Anderson, 2015
- Credits
- This collection overview was last reviewed in 2025.
- Collection sources