Notebooks, 1880-1895; undated

There are two different types of notebooks found in this series. Notebooks 2A-3C mostly document Wilbour’s travels in Egypt. These notebooks contain inscriptions, hieroglyphs, maps of tombs, sketches of objects purchased, itineraries of travels, and lists of expenses. Most of the details regarding his travels are written in shorthand. Included with these notebooks are sketches of objects purchased by Wilbour, which include The Gnostic Gem and the Head of Faun. At a later date, accession numbers for objects located at the Brooklyn Museum were added next to certain sketches.

Notebooks 3D-49 include notes and indexes to Egyptological publications. Also included with these notebooks are sketches of objects located at Belgian museums.

These notebooks are organized using Wilbour’s original labeling system. In this organizational scheme, the notebooks are arranged first chronologically and then alphabetically. Loose notes found between notebooks 2K and 2Q are also included in this series. There are 39 notebooks currently in this collection and 34 missing notebooks.