[20.11.06]
- without prefix, number 24
- Ms Typ, numbers from 6 till 694
- SM [= Semitic Museum?], numbers from 2211 till 6162
- Syr., number 22

Houghton Library’s collection of papyri consists of 84 manuscripts dating from the 3rd century BC to the 6th century AD. Most of the papyri come from Oxyrhynchus, but there are also papyri from Hibeh and from the Fayûm. The collection comprises both literary and documentary texts. They are all written in Greek except for one (P. Oxy. 6.987), which is a bookplate written in Coptic. These papyri were given to the Semitic Museum at Harvard by the Egypt Exploration Fund, London, between 1901 and 1909. The Semitic Museum received this “gift” in return for the purchase of a life membership in the Egypt Exploration Fund for $125 by Jacob H. Schiff, the museum’s principal benefactor. In 1960 the papyri were transferred to Houghton Library.Nineteen ostraca derive from the Haynes collection.

the whole collection is now described online and digitised photographs are gradually made available. The ostraca are not yet scanned in.

P.Oxy. VI 844 (LDAB 2474), a magnificent copy of Isocrates' Panegyricus is certainly the most important text in the collection. Another highlight is the Greek fragment of the Gospel of Thomas P.Oxy. IV 655 (LDAB 4029).

P.Oxy., P.Fayum, and / or P.Hibeh (cf. Coles, Location-list, 1974); includes also 19 ostraca from the Haynes collection