Arthur Capell was an Australian linguist and ethnographer who spent much time recording and documenting both Australian Aboriginal languages and endangered languages in the Asia - Pacific region. At the University of Sydney, he studied under and with Professor A. P. Elkin (the then professor of the Department of Anthropology). Capell studied and published on languages from places including Melanesia (in particular Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu), Polynesia and Micronesia, often living in the areas whose languages he studied.

Peter Newton worked with Arthur Capell and was trustee of his estate. The initial identification, classification, sorting and cataloguing of the Capell archive was undertaken by Peter Newton.