Sir Arthur Evans was the first undergraduate to take archaeology as a special subject in the Modern History School at Oxford. He came up to Brasenose in 1870 and took a first class degree in 1874. He was later to be elected both Fellow and Honorary Fellow of the College.
He became the Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at the early age of thirty two, and his work there gave the Museum a world-wide reputation. He retired from the post before he was fifty in order to concentrate on his research. He is chiefly remembered for his discoveries at Knossos on Crete.
The Sir Arthur Evans Archive is held by the Ashmolean Museum.