Amelia Edwards at Olana and the Birth of Egyptian Archaeology

April 5, 2022

First published at the tender age of seven, Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards was a successful novelist and travel writer. In the winter of 1873 -1874, Edwards went to Egypt for the first time sailing up the Nile in a houseboat, visiting many of the most important sites, and documenting her travels. Her illustrated record of the trip, A Thousand Miles up the Nile, was published in 1877 and became a bestseller. The Churches’ own library at Olana housed this foundational work of Egyptology, along with along with 11 other copies of books by Edwards. Edwards’ lifelong efforts to preserve Egyptian monuments not only firmly planted her legacy in Egyptian studies but brought Edwards to Olana to stay with Frederic Church during a set of speaking tours in America in 1889-1890. During this webinar, Dr. Peter Lacovara will discuss Edwards’ important efforts as the “Godmother of Egyptology,” including her co-founding of the Egypt Exploration Fund which continues to set out annual expeditions to excavate, record and preserve archaeological sites throughout Egypt.

Peter Lacovara (B.A. 1976, Boston University; Ph.D. 1993 The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago) is Director of The Ancient Egyptian Archaeology and Heritage Fund, Consulting Curator for the Egyptian Collection at the Albany Institute of History and Art, and Visiting Research Scholar at the American University in Cairo. He was Senior Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum from 1998 to 2014. Previously, he has served as Assistant Curator in the Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His publications include studies on Daily Life and Urbanism in Ancient Egypt, Egyptian Mortuary Traditions, and the Material Culture of Ancient Egypt and Nubia.