About Us

The ASCSA Archives comprise administrative records concerning the function and mission of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, excavation records from American archaeological projects in Greece (e.g., Lerna, Kea, Pylos), personal papers of American archaeologists working in Greece, such as Carl W. Blegen, Gorham P. Stevens, William B. Dinsmoor, Virginia R. Grace, and Homer A. Thompson, as well as a rich and important collection of personal papers about the history and culture of Modern Greece and the rest of the Balkan peninsula.

The ASCSA Archives is privileged to include in its holdings the papers of the Dragoumis family, and those of Constantine Tsatsos, former President of the Hellenic Republic, just to mention a few of the collections important for the history of Greece. The collection of personal papers pertaining to the study of Modern Greek literature is also exceptional. The most important acquisitions have at their core the papers of the so-called “30’s Generation,” including both its main and more peripheral members. In addition to the papers of George Seferis and Olysseus Elytis, the American School has acquired the papers of novelists Stratis Myrivilis, Angelos Terzakis, Elias Venezis, George Theotokas, and poet Kostas Varnalis. The scope of the collection is currently being expanded to incorporate literary papers of the first post-War generation, including those of poet Takis Sinopoulos and novelist Rita Lymberaki, as well as more recent authors, such as Elias Petropoulos, Margarita Karapanou and Vassilis Vassilikos.

There are also extensive holdings of photographs of Greece and excavations in Greece from the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, as well as the personal photographic collections of Alison Frantz, Dorothy Burr Thompson, and others. The Antiquities Collection of the American School is another valuable resource with a large body of artifacts from numerous sites in Greece, as well as Anatolia, Cyprus, and Egypt.