Papers of Stanley Casson

The material mainly comprises Casson's personal bound offprints of his academic output from the 1920s to 1940s, some with associated correspondence received from various scholars in response to the publications. There are also some memorials of him, and his poems from the First World War, with some reviews and correspondence.

Born in 1889, Stanley Casson studied Classics at St John's College, Oxford, before travelling to Greece on behalf of the British School at Athens. There he engrossed himself in Greek culture, became fluent in Greek and undertook pioneering studies of Greek history and art, including the second volume of a new catalogue of the collections of the Acropolis Museum.
Casson served in the British Army during World War I, in the East Lancashire Regiment in Flanders and with the General Staff in Salonika under General Sir George Milne, Commander-in-Chief of British Troops in Macedonia. He was one of the first Allied officers to enter Constantinople and trekked through the desert in Turkestan. He was ultimately awarded the Greek Order of the Redeemer, the oldest and highest decoration awarded by the Greek government.
Upon his return to England, Casson resumed his promising career as a respected scholar and writer, quickly rising to the top of his field. In 1920 he became Assistant Director of the British School at Athens, and was elected a fellow of New College in the same year. His book, Macedonia, Thrace, and Illyria (1929), an in-depth historiography of the countries' relations with Greece based on his travels during the war, received the prestigious Conington Prize from the University of Oxford in 1924. Further accomplishments between the wars included multiple publications, groundbreaking archaeological excavations in Constantinople, and appointments as Reader in Classical Archaeology at Oxford, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Before the start of World War II, Casson joined the officers' emergency reserve. In 1939 he received an assignment with the Intelligence Corps, serving in the British Mission with the Greek Army and on the staff of the British Expeditionary Force in Greece. Twice he narrowly escaped capture by German forces. He was present during the Nazi invasions of the Netherlands and Crete, but on both occasions was rescued at the last minute by the Royal Navy.
Casson's deep knowledge of Greek history and culture made him the ideal candidate to head Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) operations in the Balkans. In June 1943 the British Embassy in Athens, the Foreign Office, and the War Office hosted a conference to address the protection of cultural monuments and antiquities in Greece. Monuments Man Lt. Col. Sir Leonard Woolley, Archaeological Advisor to the War Office, recommended that Casson be appointed as a senior officer attached to the General Staff to act as a liaison between Greek officials and the War Office. Casson left England for Cairo, on 17 April 1944, but he was killed when his plane crashed shortly after takeoff.
In appreciation of his service to Greece and its rich history, the Greek government held a requiem mass in his memory at the Greek Cathedral in London. He was the first British officer to receive such an honour during World War II. Similarly, the Greek journal Hellas published the following epitaph in Casson's memory:
The monuments he loved in peace
He strove to shield in war,
And gave his life for them and Greece
Upon a distant shore
Stanley Casson is buried at Fairpark Cemetery in Newquay, Cornwall. A memorial remains outside the Founder's Library in New College.

Unaltered from the creator's original order.

Open for consultation.

Donated in 2016, following discussions in the previous year, by Lady Jennifer MacLellan, the only child of Casson, who was herself born in the then family home in 8 New College Lane [Acc. 2016/6 (PA/CAS 1-18) and 2016/17 (PA/CAS 19-21)].

Catalogued by Jennifer Thorp 2017.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Librarian, New College Oxford (e-mail archives@new.ox.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Weeded of duplicates and inconsequential items.

None anticipated.

See also SCR/B/Casson for three letters from Casson to Francis Henry Taylor, Director of the Worcester Art Museum of Massachusetts [and later Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York], Feb to Nov 1932 [Acc. 2013/25].
In Oxford, there are some papers of Casson, including six letters to Stanley Casson from the sculptor Charles D'Orville 'Pilk' Pilkington Jackson (various dated, 1933-36) held in the Beasley Archive, The Classical Art Research Centre, University of Oxford.
There are further letters among the papers of H.A.L. Fisher, Warden of New College, now held in the Bodleian, Fisher MSS, in Fisher MSS 44, 152, 216.

[Stanley Casson], Bibliography Lieut.-Colonel Stanley Casson, (Intelligence Corps.) M.A., F.S.A., Hon.A.R.I.B.A. ([London]: [The Authors' Club], [1945?]), Bodleian shelfmark 258732 e. 5.
Casson wrote an autobiography of his experiences in the Great War: Steady Drummer (London: Bell, 1935).
W. Poole, 'Three Letters from Stanley Casson to Francis Henry Taylor, 1932' (New College Notes, No.9, 2014) pp.1-5.