Pam England

I have a first degree in Geology and Masters degree in Analytical Chemistry, leading to a careers in geochemistry and then museum science, both in the UK and USA. With three children to bring up, I worked from home as a scientific editor and then a Complementary Health Practitioner.

I have completed 4 years of Archaeological study at the Dept. of Continuing Education. As my work became more and more part-time and the children left home, I chose to volunteer at the Institute of Archaeology, both to continue my archaeological education and to be exposed to on-going research of all types. The Archives are important as they preserve the processes of scholarship and the fine details that would otherwise be lost to us.

I have filed Jacobsthal’s letters and now am entering their details on the database. This has given me an opportunity to appreciate firsthand how meticulous he was, and how prodigious his memory must have been, especially as he had lost so much of his material. Jacobsthal’s letters suggest he was respectful of other scholars and unaffected by petty disagreements of academia. Despite immense personal problems, he pursued his research and encouraged others.

I particularly enjoy snippets in the letters that hint at the very private man behind the scholar – his hayfever, his cat, his humanity.