Charles Edwin Wilbour Collection
Scope and Contents
The Wilbour Archival Collection documents the research and expeditions of Charles Edwin Wilbour (1833-1896), one of the first American Egyptologists.
This collection includes a wide variety of materials such as articles, letters, inscriptions, notebooks, notes, publications, squeezes, bookplates, maps, and photographs. In addition, the collection contains letters of condolence, clippings, and calling cards related to Wilbour’s death, as well as records about this collection.
The bulk of this collection consists of Wilbour’s letters, notebooks, and research notes. He wrote numerous detailed letters to his wife, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, and his mother, Sarah Soule Wilbour, describing both ancient and nineteenth century Egypt. These letters also document some of the objects purchased by Wilbour that are currently found in the Brooklyn Museum. Jean Capart later published these letters in 1936 in his book Travels in Egypt. In addition, there are letters to Wilbour from renowned Egyptologists such as August Eisenlohr, Jan Herman Insigner, Gaston Maspero, A.H. Sayce, Heinrich Karl Brugsch, and W.M. Flinders Petrie regarding their research and publications.
In addition to his letters, Wilbour’s research notes and notebooks offer insight into his work and provide detailed accounts of his observations and travels. Unfortunately, some of these notes are written in Wilbour’s unique shorthand, which has not yet been fully deciphered.
Additional items of interest are inscriptions that Wilbour copied directly from sites or publications, and copies of published inscriptions with his hand-written annotations. Of particular interest are Wilbour’s hand-written copies from inscriptions located in the Temple of Ombos, which reflect his meticulousness and attention to detail.
In addition, the squeezes and photographs visually document objects and sites he visited. Of particular interest is a collection of squeezes that provide impressions of inscriptions found on an unidentified sarcophagus. Not only do the photographs provide visual documentation of Wilbour’s research, but they also illustrate various monuments in Aswan and other locations.
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1880 - 1896
Creator
Language of Materials
Languages, terminology, and abbreviations
The languages found in the Wilbour Archival Collection: English, French, German, Greek, Spanish, Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, Demotic, and Coptic. The collection also contains material written in Wilbour’s shorthand.
The project archivist generally incorporated in folder titles and descriptions Wilbour’s own spelling and terminology for place names of regions and locations in Egypt. At times, more current terminology is also used.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research by appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
Reproduction of materials requires permission from Brooklyn Museum.
Biographical / Historical
Chronology of Charles Edwin Wilbour’s Life
1833 — March 17. Born in Little Compton, Rhode Island to Charles Wilbour and Sarah Soule.
1850 — Enrolled at Brown University where he studied Greek, Latin, and French.
1852 — Left Brown University.
1854 — Moved to New York City where he was employed as a reporter for The New York Daily Tribune. As a reporter, he developed a personal system of shorthand. This shorthand can be seen throughout his notes and notebooks.
1858 — Married Charlotte Bidwell Beebe Wilbour. Ms. Wilbour was active in the suffrage movement and a founding member of Sorosis, the first women’s club in the United States. Her friends included Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
1859 — Admitted to the Bar in the city of New York .
1862 — Translated Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. This translation is still the definitive English translation of the text.
1869 — Appointed by William Marcy “Boss” Tweed, political boss of Tammany Hall, to manage the New York Transcript. The newspaper was the official newspaper of the city of New York. In addition to managing the newspaper, Wilbour was a stenographer in the Bureau of Elections, stenographer in the Superior Court, and Examiner of Accounts.
1870 (ca.) — Under Tweed, Wilbour established the New York Printing Press.
1871 — As a result of his involvement with Tweed, Wilbour and his family moved to Paris where he began to study Egyptology with Gaston Maspero.
1880-1881 — First expedition with Maspero to Egypt. For six years, they traveled to Egypt together on a steamer that belonged to the Antiquities Department of Egypt. During his first voyage to Egypt, Wilbour traveled to Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor, Elephantine, Assuan (Aswan), and Philae.
1881 — Visited the Cow Room, which is found in the tomb of Ramses III. This tomb is found in the Valley of the Kings.
1881-1882 — Expedition to Egypt. Locations visited included Alexandria, Cairo, Bedreshayn, Minieh, Amarna, Abydos, Edfoo (Edfu), El Kab, Assuan, Elephantine, Philae, Karnak, and Keneh.
1882 — Returned to the United States to visit his family in Rhode Island. This was his first trip back to the United States since he left in 1871.
1882-1883 — Expedition to Egypt. Locations visited included Abu Girgeh, Rodah, Tell-el-Amarna, Sioot, Ekhemm, Mensheeyeh-Belianeh, Abydos, Denderah, Coptos, Luxor, Edfoo, Gebel, Silsileh, Assuan, and Philae.
1884 — Expedition to Egypt. Locations visited included Scuylla, Bedresheyn, Schmoomayn, Mensheeyeh, Assuan, Haseya, Luxor, Karnak, Sioot (Siott), and Mudee.
1885-1886 — Expedition to Egypt. Locations visited included Abookeer (Abu Sir), Alexandria, Bedreshayn, Luxor, Eyoob, Kafr-el-Avat, Assuan (Aswan), Minieh, Thebes, Philae, Sioot (Siott), and Cairo.
1886 — Purchased or leased his dahabiyeh (houseboat) “The Seven Hathors.” The boat is named after an Egyptian goddess.
1886-1887 — Expedition to Egypt. Locations visited included Cairo, Beni Suef, Minieh, Sakkara (Saqqara), Soohag, Luxor, Assuan (Aswan), Erment (Aamant), Essen, Keneh, Bibbeh.
1887-1888 — Expedition to Egypt. Locations visited included Cairo, Beni Sooef (Suet), Magaga, Rodah, Sioot, Luxor, Denderah, Philae, Assuan (Aswan), Edfoo (Edfu), Esneh, Erment (Aamant), and Florence.
1888-1889 — Expedition to Egypt. Locations visited included Cairo, Minieh, El-Kooseeyeh, Menkabad, Dayr Reefa, Raaineh, Bindweed, Soohag, Ekhmeem, Tookh, Assuan (Aswan), Luxor, Elephantine, Philae, Sehayl (Sahel), Shehoor, Keneh, and Malateeyeh.
1889 — February. Visited and documented the Famine Stela on the Island of Sehayl (Sahel).
1889-1890 — Expeditions to Egypt. Locations visited included Cairo, Sioot (Siott), Sabariat, Dishneh, Tookh, Karnak, Erment (Aamant), Philae, Sehayl (Sahel), Elephantine, El Kab, Keneh, and Belianeh.
1890-1891 — Expeditions to Egypt. Locations visited included Cairo, Rikkah, Eshment, Freshn, Roadah, Denderah, Luxor, Elephantine, Philae, Edfoo (Edfu), El Kab, and Taood.
1890 — Mother, Sarah Soule Wilbour, died in Little Compton, Rhode Island. After her death, Wilbour’s letters regarding his travels in Egypt ceased.
1893 — Documented the Papyrus-Hood Wilbour, which is currently located in the British Museum.
1896 — December 17. Died in Paris. His death was widely publicized in the United States and abroad. He was originally buried in the Wilbour Cemetery in Little Compton, but was exhumed in 1939 and reburied in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York.
Sources
Benjamin Franklin Wilbour, Notes on Little Compton, (Providence: College Hill Press, 1970), 100.
“Yesterday’s Exploring,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 22 September 1877, p. 2.
Extent
22.75 Linear Feet
Arrangement
The arrangement of materials is noted in the series descriptions. If not noted, the arrangement has not been finalized due to preservation reasons.
Originally, inscriptions, bookplates, maps, and some notes were arranged using a complex organization scheme. Due to preservation and access purposes, these materials have been rearranged. A separation sheet has been placed where material has been removed.
This collection is alphabetically arranged into nine series. At the beginning of this project, the collection was mostly disorganized requiring the creation of a new organizational scheme. Original order of certain series has been maintained in the collection.
Series and subseries titles reflect the imposed scheme; folder titles, whenever possible, transcribe information from the original folder or enclosure. During processing, folder descriptions were created and are intended to provide information on significant correspondents and topics covered.
Original boxes and folders have been retained and are located with their associated documents.
Custodial History
In 1916, the children of Charles E. Wilbour donated Wilbour’s collection of objects, his Egyptological library, and personal papers to the Brooklyn Museum. In 1932, the bequest of Victor Wilbour, the only son of Charles and Charlotte Wilbour, established the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund. The purpose of this endowment was to financially assist in the purchasing of objects for the Museum’s Egyptian collection, support curatorial staff, and establish the Wilbour Library of Egyptology. As a result of the creation of this endowment, the Brooklyn Museum appointed Jean Capart (1877-1947) as Honorary Curator of Egyptology. Capart was one of the first individuals to realize the scholarly value of Wilbour’s papers. In 1936, Capart published Travels in Egypt, which contains Wilbour’s letters regarding his expeditions. Shortly after the publication of these letters, the Department of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art (ECAMEA) employed Walter Federn (1910-1967) “to classify the extensive collection of papers belonging to Charles Edwin Wilbour.” Federn’s notes regarding Wilbour’s materials can be found throughout the collection and in the Collection Documentation Series, which includes documents about the Wilbour Archival Collection.
In 2000, Deborah Wythe, Museum Archivist, and Laura Peimer, Mellon Project Archivist, surveyed the Wilbour Collection. These papers were transferred to the Museum Archives from the Department of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art (ECAMEA) in 2005. Many of the documents that belonged to Wilbour are clearly stamped with his name.
Custodial History
Charles Edwin Wilbour (1833-1896); transferred from the Wilbour family to the Brooklyn Museum in approximately 1916.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Transferred from the Department of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art (ECAMEA) to the Museum Archives in July 2005.
Bibliography
Barry, John F. “An Adoring Daughter Wrote a Letter to Brown.” Brown Alumni Monthly (January 1972): 14-19.
Blashfield, Edwin Howland. “Afloat on the Nile.” Scribner’s Magazine 10 (1891) : 663-681. Blashfield, Howland. “A Day With the Donkey-Boys.” Scribner’s Magazine (January 1892): 32-50.
Botwinick, Michael, and Robert S. Bianchi. Egyptian Treasures from the Collections of the Brooklyn Museum. Edited by Margaret Donovani. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1978.
Capart, Jean. “An American Egyptologist : Charles Edwin Wilbour.” Brooklyn Museum Quarterly (1932): 45-49. Cook, William Burt. Catalogue of the Egyptological Library and Other Books From the Collection of the Late Charles Edwin Wilbour. Brooklyn: The Museum, 1924.
Fazzini, Richard. The Brooklyn Museum’s Egyptian Collection in Ancient Egyptian Art in the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 1989. Guzman, Diane. “Brooklyn’s Wilbour Library of Egyptology.” KMT: a Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt 5 (Fall 1994): 73-75.
Gow, Mary. “Wilbour’s Library of Egyptology: A Brief History.” Brooklyn Museum. http://library.brooklynmuseum.org/wlhist.htm Kelley, Michael. The Wilbour Library of Egyptology at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Brooklyn: Pratt Institute, 1997. Knierem, Arthur. “Charles Edwin Wilbour and the Wilbour Library : A Look at Their Lives.” Thesis, Columbia University Library School, 1965.
Les Ostraca Grecs de la Collection Charles Edwin Wilbour au Musee de Brooklyn. New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1935.
Patten, David. “Bring Zoe Wilbour Into the Light Again.” Providence Journal Sunday Magazine (December 1, 1968): 28-34.
Reinach, S. “Charles Edwin Wilbour.” Revue Archéologique (1925): 191. Riefstahl, Elizabeth. “The Wilbour Library of Egyptology.” Brooklyn Museum Bulletin (Summer 1955): 16-17.
Rose, Mark. “Wilbour’s Legacy.” Archaeology (2005). http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/wilbour/index.html
Sherk, Robert K. “The Charles E. Wilbour Inscriptions from Egypt.” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 93 (1962): 443-448.
Sherk, Robert K. “An Epitaph in the Museum at Alexandria.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies (Winter 1964): 295-304.
Taggart, Edwin L.M. “The New Wilbour Memorial Hall.” Brooklyn Museum Quarterly (1933): 57-70.
Werner, Edward Karl. Charles Edwin Wilbour : the Man and the Library. New Brunswick: Rutgers Graduate School of Library Science, 1975.
Werner, Edward Karl. “The Wilbour Library of Egyptology : it’s Origin and Development”. PLA Report (Winter 1980): 23-27.
Wilbour, Charles E. Travels in Egypt: Letters of Charles Edwin Wilbour. Edited by Jean Capart. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum. 1936.
“Wilbour in Egypt: America’s First Egyptologist.” Council for Museum Anthropology Newsletter (July 1983): 63.
General
We are extremely grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for recognizing the value of the Brooklyn Museum’s Archives and its importance to the scholarly community. The Mellon-funded Museum Archives Initiative grant to the Brooklyn Museum has supported the staff and project activities that have culminated in the complete arrangement, description, and preservation of the Wilbour Archival Collection.
The Wilbour finding aid is the result of a combined effort of archivists, librarians, and scholars to organize the Wilbour Archival Collection and make the papers available for researchers. The project involved many different individuals within the Brooklyn Museum as well as outside consultants. Deborah Wythe, former Museum Archivist and Manager of Special Library Collections, surveyed the collection in 2000 prior to its move to the Museum Archives. Deirdre Lawrence was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the entire project; Laura Peimer supervised the project and managed the technological aspects; and Megan Hibbitts processed and described the collection. Keith DuQuette, Winona Abraham, and Rachel Danzing completed the project’s preservation activities. Consultants Mary Gow, Paul O’Rourke, and Wendy Raver were invaluable in assisting the Project Archivist with identifying and describing materials, reviewing the text of the finding aid, and providing suggestions for publications about Charles Edwin Wilbour.
As a product of the Andrew W. Mellon funded Museum Archives Initiative; this guide will be made available online; along with several other finding aids, to provide greater access to the research collections held in the Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives. We hope these tools will benefit researchers for many generations to come.
Processing Information
The project archivist observed the following processing guidelines: folded materials were flattened; oversize materials were removed to appropriate containers; photographs were removed and placed in photograph storage. All materials removed were replaced by a separation sheet noting their disposition.
'Hieroglyphisch-Demotisches Worterbuch' (1867) by Heinrich Karl Brugsch was discarded due to its condition. Copies are available online and in the Brooklyn Museum Wilbour Library.
- Title
- Finding Aid to the Charles Edwin Wilbour Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Created by Deirdre Lawrence, Laura Peimer and Megan Hibbitts in 2012. Updated by Paige Papandrea in 2026.
- Date
- 2012, 2026
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Brooklyn Museum Archives Repository