The Annual Report of the Institute of Archaeology (1937–58): history, development and access

Abstract

The Annual Report of the Institute of Archaeology (1937–58) is now available as an open-access journal through a UCL digitisation initiative. This article aims to draw attention to the history of the Report and its potential for research into both the history of the Institute of Archaeology and the wider discipline. Research examines the Report within the context of the professionalisation of archaeology in the mid-twentieth century and explores how contemporary journals recorded, reflected and promoted contemporary changes, notably debates surrounding the role of ‘amateurs’ and post-war intellectual internationalism. Vere Gordon Childe’s creative control of the Annual Reports is used to investigate the complex entanglements between institutions and individuals and the roles played by archaeological literature in these interactions.