Papers of Archibald Young Campbell

Scope and Content

Typescript and manuscript notes, correspondence, reprints, and annotated books, mostly relating to Aeschylus. Also a manuscript play 'The Fall of Troy'.

Administrative / Biographical History

Born at Blantyre, Lanarkshire, in 1885, Campbell was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh. He came to St John's College in 1904 and graduated BA in 1907 with a First in Classics. At Cambridge Campbell was a contemporary and friend of Rupert Brooke. Following graduation, Campbell worked as Lecturer in Classics at Liverpool (1908-9) and then Reading (1909-11) universities, before returning to St John's as a Fellow and Lecturer (1911-22). In 1922 he was appointed to the Gladstone Professorship of Greek at the University of Liverpool, and it was here that his main scholarly output took place. Campbell retired in 1950 and resided in Cambridge until his death, apart from a period of teaching at the University of Bristol in 1954. He published several editions of Horace, and in later years concentrated on the emendation of classical texts, particularly those of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Horace. 'His lively and often puckish ingenuity and drastic procedure in emendation have usually been received with more or less amused incredulity' (Obituary by R.J. Getty, 'The Eagle' LVIII (1958-9), 218-20). Campbell married in 1912 and had a son and two daughters.

Access Information

Open for consultation

Acquisition Information

Given by Dr Roger Dawe, Trinity College Cambridge, Sep. 2000.

Note

Born at Blantyre, Lanarkshire, in 1885, Campbell was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh. He came to St John's College in 1904 and graduated BA in 1907 with a First in Classics. At Cambridge Campbell was a contemporary and friend of Rupert Brooke. Following graduation, Campbell worked as Lecturer in Classics at Liverpool (1908-9) and then Reading (1909-11) universities, before returning to St John's as a Fellow and Lecturer (1911-22). In 1922 he was appointed to the Gladstone Professorship of Greek at the University of Liverpool, and it was here that his main scholarly output took place. Campbell retired in 1950 and resided in Cambridge until his death, apart from a period of teaching at the University of Bristol in 1954. He published several editions of Horace, and in later years concentrated on the emendation of classical texts, particularly those of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Horace. 'His lively and often puckish ingenuity and drastic procedure in emendation have usually been received with more or less amused incredulity' (Obituary by R.J. Getty, 'The Eagle' LVIII (1958-9), 218-20). Campbell married in 1912 and had a son and two daughters.

Preferred citation: St John's College Library, Papers of Archibald Young Campbell

Archivist's Note

16 Dec 2015

Additional Information

Published

Subjects