Miss Anna Vangelatou

Miss Anna Vangelatou is a Bye-Fellow at Magdalene.

Anna Vangelatou is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge and the British Museum. She previously completed a BA in History and Archaeology from the University of Athens and an MPhil in Modern European History from Cambridge, Magdalene College.

For her DPhil, she received the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award from the Faculty of Classics in collaboration with the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum.

Her current research focuses on the antiquities trade between the Eastern Mediterranean and London, c. 1860-1890. She examines the Museum's acquisitions from Greek and Ottoman lands during the tenure of Keeper Charles Newton (1861-1885).

Research Interests

She is a historian of the economic and social context of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, the British Empire, diplomacy, and, more recently, the art market. Her thesis looks at the movement of antiquities from the Levant to the British Museum from an economic history perspective, by understanding the mechanisms of supply and demand at work.

She focuses on a seminal figure in the Victorian boom in classical studies and commodification of historical objects: Charles Newton, a pioneering archaeologist who spearheaded an ambitious acquisition programme from Greece and the Ottoman Empire as Keeper at the British Museum (1861-1885). She asks how Newton created demand for classical artefacts in Britain, representing a cultural institution central to the international art market.

As the politics of heritage intensified with the rise of antiquities legislation in the source countries, Newton relied increasingly on local actors (diggers, dealers, intermediaries, consuls) to sustain his purchasing momentum. In this context, she investigates the activity of these 'hidden' Levantine networks of suppliers and, at a second level, their European extensions.

More broadly, she is interested in the role of British consulates in the spheres of diplomacy, political jurisdiction, trade, and empire in the Eastern Mediterranean. Alongside technological innovations, they were key players in the region's economic and political integration in the second half of the 19th century.

Career/Research Highlights

In 2023, she was admitted to the Faculty of History in Cambridge, having received the Holland Rose Studentship for her MPhil research into the history of the British informal empire in 1920s Greece. Magdalene College generously supported her through the John L. Goulandris Scholarship during her master's programme, from which she graduated with a distinction.

For her PhD, she received the competitive AHRC scholarship for a collaborative project with the British Museum. She is also funded by the A.G. Leventis Foundation.

In May 2026, she won the Murphy-Howe Prize for the best paper by a postgraduate published in The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History for her article, 'British Corporate Imperialism and Sovereignty in Interwar Greece: The Power and Traction Question'. Around the same time, she was awarded the Magdalene Bye-Fellowship for the Humanities (2026/27).

Professional Affiliations

• The British Museum, Department of Greece and Rome
• Project Associate: 'The World that Consuls Made: British Diplomacy in Nineteenth-Century Greece', Georgios Giannakopoulos (Principal Investigator), The British Academy & City St George's, University of London.