Marjorie Lancaster Caygill OBE FSA (born 1940) is a British historian, specialising in the history of the British Museum.
Career In the early 1970s, Caygill was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.Johnson, T.J., & Caygill, M. (1973). The British medical association and its overseas branches: A short history. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 1(3), 303–329. https://doi.org/10.1080/03086537308582380 She joined the British Museum in 1973 as a Research Assistant in the Secretariat and became Assistant to the Director in 1978. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1984, and received the OBE in the 1993 New Year Honours. She retired in 2004, and in 2008 became a Fellow of the Centre for Anthropology at the British Museum.David Wilson, The British Museum: a history, London 2002.
Selected publications Books Treasures of the British Museum (British Museum Press, 2009) ISBN 978-0714121642 Curious things of every kind : the British Museum book of poetry (British Museum Press, 2008) ISBN 978-0714150710 (with John Curtis) Flowers (British Museum Press, 2006) ISBN 978-0714150444 Winter: A Companion (British Museum Press, 2004) ISBN 978-0714150338 The British Museum. 250 Years (British Museum Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0714127866 (with Neil MacGregor) Peoples of the Past. British Museum Diary 2003 (British Museum Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0714127736 The Story of the British Museum (British Museum Press, 2002) ISBN 978-0714127729 The British Museum Reading Room (British Museum, 2000) ISBN 978-0861599851 Building the British Museum (British Museum Press, 1999) ISBN 978-0714121642 (with Christopher Date) The British Museum A-Z Companion (British Museum Press, 1999) ISBN 978-0714121437 A.W. Franks: Nineteenth-century Collecting and the British Museum (British Museum Press, 1997) ISBN 978-0714117638 (edited with John F. Cherry) A Survey of Visitors to the British Museum (1992-3) (British Museum, 1994) ISBN 978-0861591015 (with M.N. Leese) A Survey of Visitors to the British Museum (1982-1983) (British Museum Occasional Paper 64, 1986) ISBN 978-0861590643 (with Peter H. Mann and Geoffrey House) Treasures of the British Museum (British Museum Press, 1985) ISBN 978-0714120331 Economic Aspects of the Viking Age (British Museum Occasional Paper 30, 1981) ISBN 978-0861590308 (with David M. Wilson) Community in the making: aspects of Britain's role in the development of professional education in the commonwealth (University of London Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 1972) ISBN 978-0902499164 (with Terence James Johnson)
Articles and chapters in books "Sloane's catalogue and the arrangement of his collections" in Alison Walker, Arthur MacGregor and Michael Hunter (eds), From Books to Bezoars (2012) "Sir Hans Sloane and his museum", BM Magazine: the journal of the British Museum Society, 2003.
Online courses Creating a Great Museum: Early Collectors and The British Museum (Fathom online-learning site): (Session 1) Sir Hans Sloane, Founder of The British Museum; (2) The Magna Carta, Lindisfarne Gospels and Other Treasures; (3) Rare Birds: Female Collectors and The British Museum; (4) The Rothschilds; (5) Quantity versus Quality among the Collectors
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