The research conducted from September 2 to September 6, 2024, focused on a comprehensive examination of all physical archival materials from the Homer Thompson Collection, now housed at Department of Art and Archaeology in Princeton. During this period, we meticulously inventoried and cataloged all 621 plans and drawings of the Agora site, including its monuments and objects (a complete inventory is included at the end of the report, see Appendix B). These materials are now stored under optimal archival conditions, organized into 52 acid-free folders and four unnumbered rolls across five drawers, categorized by the corresponding monument or publication featuring object profiles. The drawings and plans that were not part of the Agora Archives were filed separately, along with a note indicating they do not belong to the Agora collection.

The recording process involved marking the materials with "PD" (plans and drawings), "DA" (digital archives), or Agora image number in pencil to facilitate future identification. Our inventory also includes links to our website, allowing electronic access to the materials for all users. If a link is not provided, it means that the objects have not yet been published and are not available for study, necessitating permission from the Director of the Agora Excavations, Professor J. Papadopoulos.

In order to identify each physical archive at Princeton, we meticulously cross-referenced them with the Agora's digital database, including Agora Filemaker Pro and our website, www.ascsa.net. All materials were verified as duplicates of those currently housed at the Agora, reinforcing the idea that HAT established a "second Stoa" in his Princeton office to facilitate his publication work while away from Athens. Approximately 10 plans, drawings, and images did not appear to be included in the original Agora archives. Therefore, we formally requested that our colleagues at Princeton scan these materials and provide us with digital copies for our records.

The HAT collection also includes several thousand mounted files, currently stored in 32 drawers in the basement of the Green Hall in Princeton. The items were already well-organized into broad categories such as general plans, maps, Byzantine churches, the Stoa project, landscaping, etc and classifications of objects like coins, figurines, black-figure vases etc. Due to time constraints, we couldn’t meticulously review all the items, but we did cross-reference a sample from each drawer. It’s important to note that all the mounted files are duplicates of materials now housed at the Agora. 

In one of the drawers, we discovered a small collection of unmounted black-and-white images dating back to the late 19th century. These images, depicting the waterworks in the area between the Areopagus and the Pnyx, are most likely associated with the German Institute. For similar images from the Agora Archives, see 1997.16.0336 and 1997.16.0337

The highlight of our research, however, was the Messinesi collection! The Agora only has small prints from this collection, which were sent to us in 1948 (Figure 8), along with a low-resolution photograph of the key plan illustrating the precise locations where the images were captured (Figure 9). To our excitement, we uncovered the original 1930 map created by Messinesi himself and the enlarged versions of these prints—74 mounted images in total, showing the pre-1931 demolition of houses in the Vrysaki neighboroughood, along with various other sites and monuments, including Hadrian's Library, the Medrese, the Tower of the Winds, the Roman Agora, and the broader Plaka area. 

Our colleagues at Princeton have done an excellent job inventorying the prints in an Excel file. We have cross-referenced their data with the smaller prints in our Agora collection, made corrections and amendments, particularly regarding the properties, and added the dimensions of the prints, some of which are duplicates in different sizes (see Appendix A). Princeton kindly shared their data along with scans of 53 prints and generously offered to scan the original key plan and send it to us along with the rest of the prints. Notably, prints numbered 37 to 50, and 89 are missing from both the Agora and Princeton collections, leading us to believe that Messinesi may have kept them along with the original slides. The possibility of an upcoming joint exhibition by Princeton and the Agora will highlight the work of Messinesi, a mysterious photographer about whom almost nothing is known, and will provide both scholars and Athens residents the opportunity to explore how the city's heart appeared in 1929-1930 through his vivid images. 

During our time at Princeton, we had the privilege of visiting the Institute for Advanced Study. Aaron Hershkowitz and his colleagues gave us a wonderful tour of the epigraphic squeezes—over 7,000 of which came from the Agora—the second-largest collection of squeezes in the world! Additionally, they granted us access to materials potentially related to the Agora, including folders belonging to scholars and IAS members such as William Kendrick Pritchett, Eugene Vanderpool, Lucy Shoe, and Antony Raubitschek. However, these documents consisted mainly of personal correspondence between the scholars and the IAS regarding their memberships and were not directly related to the HAT collection. 

In conclusion, the examination of all these plans, drawings, images, and mounted files has provided a more unified record of HAT’s life and work. The presence of many duplicates, or even triplicates, stored at the Athenian Agora, Princeton, and the ASCSA, indicates that HAT sought additional copies of the original records for immediate access—both for himself and his colleagues—while in Athens or the United States. During a time when computers and digitized archival records were not available, HAT required these copies to facilitate his research and publications. Furthermore, this archival research has shed light on the lesser-known aspects of Messinesi’s collection (including prints and plans). It is anticipated that this marks the beginning of a broader collaboration, potentially leading to an exhibition co-organized by Princeton and the Agora that will enhance our understanding of Messinesi’s contributions and the historical context in which he lived and worked.

Our objective is to continue our research at the Archives of the School, where, in addition to plans and drawings, there is correspondence between HAT, scholars, and colleagues. Although Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan, the Director of the Archives, and her team have created a basic inventory, we can also provide links to the records we have already digitized and share our data (from both Stoa and the School) with our colleagues at Princeton. This collaboration will ensure that all three institutions have a comprehensive record of HAT’s archives along with their digitized copies.

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Julia Gearhart, Director of the Visual Resources Collection, Leigh A. Lieberman, Digital Project Specialist in the Department of Art and Archaeology, and  Michele C. Mazeris, Senior Image Collections Specialist, for their invaluable support throughout this research. Their guidance, assistance, and willingness to allow us to work outside regular working hours were crucial to the successful completion of this project, and we are sincerely grateful for their contributions. Additionally, we would like to thank Dr Nathan Arrington, Professor of Art and Archaeology and Aaron Hershkowitz, Acquisition Librarian-Institute for Advanced Study, and his team for their assistance. Finally, we are grateful to all the staff members of the Agora Excavations and especially to Dr John Papadopoulos, Director of the Agora Excavations, for the endless support without which this work would not have been possible. 

28 September 2024 

Aspasia Efstathiou and Pia Kvarnstöm