Sharing 7,000 Years of Egyptian Culture with the American Research Center in Egypt's Open Access Conservation Archive

FAIN: PW-264060-19

ARCE (Alexandria, VA 22314-1555)
Michelle McMahon (Project Director: July 2018 to May 2019)
Louise Bertini (Project Director: May 2019 to April 2020)
Yasmin El Shazly (Project Director: April 2020 to April 2025)

Planning for a digital archive documenting conservation and preservation work over the last 25 years at 85 historic Egyptian sites dating as early as the sixth millennium BCE, including the creation of collection management policies and manuals. The project would also support pilot work to digitize and make available archival reports, photographs, and born-digital materials for three sites: Shunet al Zebib, a third-millennium BCE mudbrick funerary complex at Abydos in Upper Egypt; the Red Monastery, a fifth-century Coptic monastery near Souhag in Upper Egypt; and the Mosque of Aslam al-Silahdar, a fourteenth-century mosque in the center of Cairo.

Covering the full breadth of 7,000 years of Egyptian history, ARCE stewards a singular archive documenting 85 projects with a concentration of materials on lost or inaccessible sites throughout Egypt. ARCE bears a responsibility to preserve this archive and share its contents. With a two-year Foundations grant, we will create and approve critical collections management policies and manuals and publish a pilot digital archive of three collections. Embedded in the planning and pilot phases are points for testing, feedback and adjustment, with guidance from a multidisciplinary advisory board and input from public audiences and other stakeholders. Publication of ARCE's materials will allow free access for educators, students and the American and Egyptian public to a wide range of digitized resources. Integrated with ARCE's website, the conservation archive will contribute to more comprehensive public understanding of cultural heritage sites in Egypt.