The foundation of the ‘Leids Papyrologisch Instituut’ took place on 19 January 1935. Prior to then, the founders – J.C. van Oven (1881-1963, Roman Law), B.A. van Groningen (1894-1987, Greek) and M. David (1898-1986, Legal History) – had already been teaching Greek papyrology at Leiden University.

The foundation of the Leiden Papyrological Institute was the result of a donation of 21 Greek papyri from Egypt by the American collector E.P. Warren, who also gave his name to the famous Warren Cup (see also the pdf on the right side). There was one condition: the papyri were never to become the property of a government organisation such as a university. In 1941 the Warren papyri were published in the first issue of the new series Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava. That was the beginning of the collection of the Papyrological Institute.

Over the years the collection has been extended through purchase (most importantly by Van Groningen in Egypt in 1939/40, and from the Amsterdam publisher and antiquarian Hakkert in 1971) and donations. It is now a modest but highly varied study collection of over 600 texts from Graeco-Roman Egypt. As recently as 2016 the collection of the foundation ‘Het Leids Papyrologisch Instituut’ was enlarged with 20 Demotic ostraca, 1 Coptic ostracon and the lead tablet with Greek love charm, donated by Rob and Cocky Demaree, which already formed part of the collection as a long-term loan. The 21 ostraca are now published in P.L.Bat. 40.

The texts of this collection, not only written on papyrus but also on pottery sherds (ostraca), wax tablets, wooden boards, linen, parchment and even a lead tablet. They are all from Egypt and date from the period between the fourth century BCE and the eighth century CE. The texts are mostly written in Greek and/or Demotic, although Hieratic, Coptic and Latin are also represented.

The collection is regularly shown to the public during exhibitions, open days and school class tours. On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Leiden Papyrological Institute an online exhibition was set up with digital images and descriptions of the highlights from our collection and links to their Greek texts and translations. Ten years later, on the occasion of the 90^th anniversary of the Leiden Papyrological Institute, a blog was initiated, in which papyrology students answer questions about antiquity with the help of papyri from the collection. Despite the fact that many of these texts are only mere fragments or heavily damaged, after a lot of jigsaw-puzzling work by papyrologists, they can provide an intriguing glimpse into life in ancient Egypt between 300 BCE to 800 AD.

About half of the texts are published so far (mainly in the series Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava; see more detailed information on the Collections website of Trismegistos). Publication of the texts belonging to the Leiden collection is an ongoing task for staff members of the Papyrological Institute, in which advanced students are also involved. 

Many earlier publications of the Leiden texts were accompanied by (black-and-white) plates, and simple scans were made of a number of unpublished papyri for teaching purposes. The larger part of the collection, however, was never photographed. In 2012 a new project was started to digitize the whole collection of the Leiden Papyrological Institute. With financial help of the Leiden Institute of Area Studies (LIAS), all papyri (kept in their glass mount) and other objects were scanned or photographed in high quality. The existing card catalogue at the Papyrological Institute with information on contents, date, and origin of the pieces has been updated and digitized.

The images and metadata of each individual published text have been entered into the Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS). Moreover, the information about the published Leiden texts is constantly updated in the Papyrological Navigator in order to incorporate also the later corrections to the Greek text as published in the Berichtigungsliste, as well as a translation.

In this way the collection of the Leiden Papyrological Institute has been opened up, not only to professional colleagues, but to everyone who is interested in looking at or studying original texts which give so much information on the society of Graeco-Roman-Byzantine Egypt.