The Henry Roy William Smith papers (1911-1971) document Smith’s scholarship and career in classical archaeology, with emphasis on his study of Greek vases.

Henry Roy William Smith (1891-1971) was a professor of Latin and Classical Archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley as well as a leading authority on Greek vase painting. His contributions to the field include two important fascicules of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum focusing on artifacts held in San Francisco and Berkeley, as well as the book New Aspects of the Menon Painter (1929) which launched the University of California Publications in Classical Archaeology, a series Smith made major contributions to in 1932, 1944, 1951, and 1959. Smith was born in England in 1891 and educated at St. Paul's School, London and Pembroke College, Oxford. He began his career as Associate Professor of Classics at St. Francis Xavier in 1914 but shortly thereafter left to serve in the British army during the First World War. When the war concluded, Smith returned to St. Francis Xavier before going on to Princeton to serve as an instructor and later Assistant Professor of Classics. In 1928, he came to the University of California, Berkeley as Assistant Professor of Latin, later becoming Associate Professor in 1930 and finally, in 1931, Professor of Latin and Classical Archaeology. He retired in 1958 as Emeritus Associate Curator of Classical Archaeology, still pursuing his research in places like Rio de Janeiro and England. Smith maintained a strong friendship with the vase scholar J. D. Beazley, whose publication Development of Attic Black-Figure is dedicated to Smith. Smith, like other scholars who represented a generation of classical archaeologists from the first half of the twentieth century, distinguished himself in the study of Greek and Latin literature before focusing on ancient art. His expertise in the field was vast, with discussions about vases examining not just the artifact itself but topics such as Greek siege warfare and infant burials.

18 Linear Feet (10 cartons, 11 boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder)

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