This article documents the history of the Institute of Archaeology Library from its independent beginnings in 1937 until the merger of the Institute with UCL in 1986. Documents from the Institute of Archaeology Library Archive, unpublished Institute Management Committee Minutes and published Annual Reports are used to demonstrate how the Library and the activities of its librarians reflected changes and developments not only in the Institute community, but also within wider archaeological networks. Initially situated in a united archaeological community with fluid boundaries, the Library was to develop its own independent identity as changes in Higher Education, professionalisation and commercialisation destroyed this unity and promoted the development of distinct communities of professional practice.

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.

This article presents an assessment of the administrative career of Kathleen Kenyon. It examines her involvement in the new Institute and wider British archaeological community as well as assessing her working life within the context of the increasing professionalisation of archaeological organisations between the wars, and the role played in this by female administrators. The behaviours and actions of Kenyon and those around her are also evaluated within the context of wider contemporary attitudes to and about women. Finally, Kenyon's role in women's archaeological practice and women's contributions to archaeological culture between the wars is considered. 'The advantages of the post on the other hand are these. Its holder would have the making not merely of the job, but to a large extent of the Institute. He or she will start from nothing and will build up something which ought to be pretty good. We need someone with an academic training and with imagination and a heap of commonsense'.

This article presents a detailed examination of Gordon Childe's The Dawn of European Civilization, one of the best known books in European Archaeology. An overview of the book, its scope and influence is provided, as well as an analysis of its complex theoretical structures and philosophical context. Detailed sequential analysis of all six editions reveals how the original was repeatedly reinvented by Childe over a thirty year period in response to advances in European archaeology, his own theoretical interests and external political factors. The importance of the book for the history of 20 th century archaeology and its role as an 'ancestral text' are assessed.

No abstract