Can anyone help me find more information about Dr. Walter Leo Hildburgh
(1876-1955), Born in New York and graduating from Columbia University, he
moved to London around the turn of the century.  He travelled widely and
during his lifetime amassed one of the most comprehensive collections of
AMULETS, covering Europe, the Mediterranean rim and Asia, especially Japan.
Well over 3,000 in number, these were donated to the Wellcome Historical
Medical Museum.  When that Museum dispersed many of its collections, the
Hildburgh amulets, as well as significant collections of amulets from De
Mortillet, Blackman and Lovett, came to the Pitt Rivers Museum, University
of Oxford.

I am a graduate student (with a background in Arabic, Middle Eastern
Jewellery and Material culture; Ethnology and Museum Studies) undertaking
research on the Hildburgh collection, initially with a view to producing a
critical catalogue and analysis of the Algerian and Tunisian amulets (approx
550), collected for W.L. Hildburgh by his father Henry in 1906, as well as a
profile of WLH as a collector.  He was a member of the council of numerous
societies in London, including the Folklore Society, Society of Antiquaries,
Royal Anthropological Institute, Japan Society, and the Royal Archaeological
Institute, as well as being a prominent benefactor to the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London.  Despite his apparent prominence in the field,
there is little personal information available about him, such as why he
left the State, who and what his Family were and did and how he was
financially supported?

Basically, I would be grateful for any leads about W.L. Hildburgh or his
family; Amulets in general and Middle Eastern and North African Amulets in
particular.

Yours
Marie-Claire Bakker
Linacre College
Oxford, OX1 3JA
England

email: [log in to unmask]

p.s. I apologise for any duplication as this query was cross-posted to
Artifact and Museum-L