Groundbreakers: The Joy of Lists, Letters and Wills - Women in the Archives

Dr Amara Thornton and Dr Debbie Challis are taking the stage at the UCL Institute of Archaeology on Monday 9 November, from 6pm to 8pm. The talk is called Groundbreakers: The Joy of Lists, Letters and Wills – Women in the Archives, and it's part of a wider public engagement project, Groundbreakers: Women in Archaeology, led by the British International Research Institutes (BIRI) and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology. The project spotlights pioneering women in archaeology through the archives of BIRI's nine institutes, and this session is one of the ways it's bringing those stories out into the open.

Thornton and Challis will be drawing on the Petrie Museum's archives and the Beyond Notability project to trace women's involvement in archaeology and museums. They'll be citing figures like Jane E. Harrison, Amy Yule, Hilda Petrie, Annie Quibell, Beatrice Orme and Margaret Murray – names that might not always lead the history books but who were right there in the thick of it. The title gives away the method: lists, letters and wills. It's the kind of archival detective work that finds people in the margins – the handwritten notes, the family records, the lists of who was where and doing what – and puts them back on the map.

The whole Groundbreakers project grew out of Women Transcending Boundaries, an online research project that ran from 2022 to 2026 with support from the British Academy. This particular session is also part of the Being Human Festival, which runs from 5 to 14 November 2026, and it's offered in a hybrid format, so you can join in person or online. It's for ages 18+.

If you want to be there in the room, it's at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, lecture theatre G6, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY – ground floor, step-free access. It runs from 6pm to 8pm on Monday 9 November, and it's free.