This talk investigates the life and work of Theodore Macridy, one of the diligent officials and archaeologists of the Ottoman Imperial Museum and its successor, İstanbul Archaeological Museums, between 1892 and 1930. Studied under the light of archival sources and in reference to archaeological material from excavations he directed, the story of Macridy’s life and work offers rich insights into the conditions under which archaeological investigations were carried out in the Ottoman Empire as well as Ottoman archaeologists’ mentalities and working principles. Drawing from field reports and a collection of letters that Macridy wrote from various ancient sites he worked at between 1902 and 1907, this talk discusses the history and practice of archaeology in the Ottoman Empire within the context of changing power relations of the late Ottoman period. By highlighting Ottoman archaeologists’ persistent efforts to gain recognition on the international scene while claiming ownership over patrimony, the talk seeks to establish their ambiguous position within the context of global disciplinary developments. Macridy’s testimony, thus, opens a new direction for the historiography of archaeology in the late Ottoman Empire through the perspective of local actors, who have been systematically disregarded up to the present.